>• v^^'v-^ %--?.^'-&* v^^*<^ 







.lo*. 










*" ^^ 



• cJ5;^jk*- o 












.-. ^^^0^ o. 



!•• /%."-.^-° **'""=^ '°"%^-' /■% •-!^- . 

/.i^i'>o /\^^;^/V ^^.-^i'^o ./ • 






































-^j 







MEMOIRS OF 
THE CROWN PRINCE OF GERMANY 



MEMOIRS 

OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

OF GERMANY 



ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS 



NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

1922 



■^"f^ 






Copyright, 1922, by 
THE MUNDUS PUBLISHING CO., Ltd., AMSTERDAM 

german edition 
Copyright, 1922, by 

J. G. COTTA, STUTTGART-BERLIN 



Printed in the United States of America 



Published May, 1922 




MAV 1 5 1922 
0)G!,A661656 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Impulsus Scribendi I 

CHAPTER I 

Childhood Days 3 

Boys will be Boys 3 

My Father's Nature 18 

Princes, Sovereigns and Sayings 27 

CHAPTER H 

Soldier, Sportsman and Student 35 

The Value of Prussian Drill 35 

The Queen 41 

Student Life 44 

In Command of the Foot-Guards .... 51 

CHAPTER III 

Matrimonial and Post-Matrimonial .... 60 

Freely Chosen Freely Given 60 

Recollections of Russia 65 

Statecraft Studies in Germany and England . 70 

The Row in the Reichstag 96 

How the Kaiser Worked 104 

Our pre-War Policy 108 

Travel Impressions 118 

CHAPTER IV 

Stress and Storm 126 

The Cloud on the Horizon 128 

The Cloud Bursts 135 

Our Military and Civil Leaders 157 

My Memorials 163 

Hindenburg and Ludendorff 184 

V 



vi CONTENTS 

CHAPTER V 



PAGE 



Progress of the War 197 

Battle of the Mame 198 

Verdiin 210 

Princes and Politicians at the Front . . . 223 

CHAPTER VI 

The Great Collapse 237 

Foreseeing the End 237 

Mistaken Proceedings 248 

Wilson and Foch 266 

The Wrong Man 274 

CHAPTER VII 

Scenes at Spa 280 

Schulenburg : Groner 285 

The Forged Abdication 300 

The Council of Officers 308 

The Kaiser's Ejection 320 

CHAPTER VIII 

Exiled to Holland 328 

Waiting for Berlin 329 

Accepting the Inevitable 336 

What was Done in My Absence . . . . 339 

Farewell to My Troops 344 

The Decisive Step 348 

Wieringen 354 

My Message 362 



Index 367 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

The Crown Prince Frontispiece 

FACTNG PAGE 

The Crown Prince and Crown Princess with 
Their Children and with the Mayor of 

WiERINGEN AND HiS WiFE 62 

The Crown Prince and Crown Princess at 

WiERINGEN 282 

The Crown Prince's Residence in Wieringen . 354 



IMPULSUS SCRIBENDI 

March, 1919. 

It is evening. I have been wandering once more 
along the deserted and silent ways between the 
wind-swept and sodden meadows, through grayness 
and shadow. 

No human sound or sign. Only this sea wind 
grabbing at me and driving its fingers through my 
clothing. A March wind ! Spring is near at hand. 
I have been here four months. 

In the vast expanse above me sparkle the eternal 
stars, the same that look down upon Germany. 
From the horizon of the Zuyder Zee, the lighthouses 
of The Oever and of Texel fling their beams into the 
deepening night. 

On my return I find my companion waiting 
anxiously at the little wicket-gate of the garden. 
Had I been gone such a long time? 

I am now sitting in this small room of the par- 
sonage. The paraffin lamp is lighted; it smokes and 
smells a little; and the fire in the grate bums rather 
low and cheerless. 

Not a sound disturbs the silence, save this cease- 
less blowing of the wind across the lonesome and 
slumbering island. 

Four months ! 



2 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

In this seemingly endless time — which I have 
spent in one unbroken waiting-for-something, listen- 
ing-for-something — the thought has recurred again 
and again to me: "Perhaps, if you were to write it 
out of your heart?" This idea has seized me again 
to-day; it was my one companion as I trudged the 
silent roads this evening. 

I will try it. I will write the pages which shall 
recall and arrange the past, shall bring me out of 
this turmoil into calmness and serenity. I will re- 
touch the half-faded remembrances, will give ac- 
count to myself of my own doings, wishes and omis- 
sions, will fix the truth concerning many important 
events whose outlines are seen at present by the 
world in a distorted and falsified picture. I will de- 
pict all events honestly and impartially, just as I 
see them. I will not conceal my own errors nor in- 
veigh against the mistakes of others. I will compel 
myself to objectivity and self-possession even where 
recollection's turgid wave of pain, anger and bit- 
terness breaks over me and threatens to sweep me 
along with it in its recoil. In the distant days of 
my youth I will commence my reminiscences. 



CHAPTER I 

CHILDHOOD DAYS 

When I look back upon my childhood, there rises 
before me as it were a submerged world of radiance 
and sunshine. We all loved our home in Potsdam 
and Berlin just as every child does who is cherished 
and cared for by loving hands. So, too, the joys of 
our earliest childhood were, for sure, the same as the 
joys of every happy and alert German lad. Whether 
a boy's sword is of wood or of metal, whether his 
rocking-horse is covered with calfskin or modestly 
painted — this, at bottom, is all one to the child's 
heart; it is the symbol of diminutive manliness — the 
sword or the horse itself — that makes the boy happy. 
We played the same boyish tricks as every other 
German boy, — except, perhaps, that we spoiled bet- 
ter carpets and dearer furniture. Whenever and 
with whomsoever I have talked of those childhood 
years, I have found full confirmation of the truth 
that — be he child of King or child of peasant, son of 
the better class or son of the workman — every lad's 
fancy has a stage of development in which it seeks 
the same bold adventures and makes the same won- 
derful discoveries, undertakes expeditions into roomy 
and mysterious lofts or dank cellars; there are hap- 



4 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

penings with suddenly opened hydrants which refuse 
to close again when the water gushes out, and secret 
snowball attacks upon highly respectable and punc- 
tiliously correct state officials who, forgetting all at 
once their reverend dignity, turn as red as turkey- 
cocks and shout: "Damned young rascals!" 

As far back as I can remember, the centre of our 
existence has been our dearly beloved mother. She 
has radiated a love which has warmed and com- 
forted us. Whatever joy or sorrow moved us, 
she has always had for it understanding and sym- 
pathy. All that was best in our childhood, nay, all 
the best that home and family can give, we owe to 
her. What she was to us in our early youth, that 
she has remained throughout our adolescence and 
our manhood. The kindest and best woman is she 
for whom living means helping, succoring and spend- 
ing herself in the interests of others; and such a 
woman is our mother. 

Being the eldest son I have always been partic- 
ularly close to our beloved mother. I have carried 
to her all my requests, wishes and troubles, whether 
big or little; and she, too, has shared honestly with 
me the hopes and fears couched in her bosom, the 
fulfilments and the disappointments which she has 
experienced. In many a difficulty that has arisen 
in the course of years between my father and me she 
has mediated with a soothing, smoothing and adjust- 
ing hand. Not a heart's thought of any moment 



CHILDHOOD DAYS 5 

but I have dared to lay it before her; and this loving 
and trustful intercourse continued throughout the 
grievous days of the war; nor has the relationship 
been destroyed by all the trying circumstances 
which now separate me from her. I am particularly 
happy to know that, in these painful times, she is 
still, in misfortune, permitted to be the trusty help- 
mate of my severely tried father as she was once in 
prosperity, and I am grateful for the dispensation 
which has rendered it possible. She has been his 
best friend, self-sacrificing, earnest, pure, great in 
her goodness, perfect in her fidelity. As her son, 
I say with ardent pride: she is the very pattern of a 
German wife whose best characteristics are seen in 
the fulfilment of her duties as wife and mother, and 
in her they display themselves only the purer and 
clearer now that the pomp of Imperial circumstance 
has vanished and she stands forth in her simple 
humanness. 

The relations between us children and our father 
were totally different. He was always friendly and, 
in his way, loving towards us; but, by the nature of 
things, he had none too much time to devote to us. 
As a consequence, in reviewing our early childhood, 
I can discover scarcely a scene in which he joins in 
our childish games with unconstrained mirth or 
happy abandon. If I try now to explain it to my- 
self, it seems to me as though he were unable so to 
divest himself of the dignity and superiority of the 



6 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

mature adult man as to enable him to be properly- 
young with us little fellows. Hence, in his pres- 
ence we always retained a certain embarrassment, 
and the occasional laxity of tone and expression 
adopted in moments of good humor with the mani- 
fest purpose of gaining our confidence rather tended 
to abash us. It may have been, too, that we felt 
him so often to be absent from us in his thoughts 
when present with us in the body, that rendered 
him almost impersonal, absent-minded, and often 
alien to our young hearts. 

My sister is the only one of us who succeeded in 
her childhood in gaining a snug place in his heart. 
Moreover, all sorts of otherwise unaccustomed re- 
straints were experienced at his hands. When, for 
instance, we entered his study — a thing which never 
exactly pleased him — we had to hold our hands be- 
hind us lest we might knock something off one of 
the tables. In addition to all this, there were the 
reverence and the military subordination taught us 
towards our father from our infancy; and this en- 
gendered in us a certain shyness and misgiving. 
This sense of constraint was felt both by myself and 
by my brother Fritz, though certainly neither of us 
could ever have been characterized as bashful. I 
myself have only got free of the feeling slowly and 
with progressive development. 

In recalling my father's study, I am reminded of 
an incident of my childhood which has imprinted 



CHILDHOOD DAYS 7 

itself indelibly upon my memory because it involved 
my first and unintentional visit to Prince Bismarck. 
It was early in the morning. My brother Eitel 
Friedrich and I were about to go to Bellevue for our 
lessons, and I was strolling carelessly about in the 
lower rooms of the palace. Accidentally I stumbled 
into a small room in which the old Prince sat por- 
ing over the papers on his writing-desk. To my 
dismay he at once turned his eyes full upon me. 
My previous experience of such matters led me to 
believe that I should be promptly and pitilessly ex- 
pelled. Indeed, I had already started a precipitate 
retreat, when the old Prince called me back. He 
laid down his pen, gripped my shoulder with his 
giant palm and looked straight into my face with 
his penetrating eyes. Then he nodded his head 
several times and said: "Little Prince, I like the 
look of you, keep your fresh naturalness." He gave 
me a kiss and I dashed out of the room. I was so 
proud of the occurrence that I treated my brothers 
for several days as totally inferior beings. It was 
incredible ! I had blundered into a study and had 
not been thrown out — not even reprimanded. And 
it was withal the study of the old Prince. 

The nature of our later education tended to 
estrange us from our father more and more. We 
were soon intrusted entirely to tutors and governors, 
and it was from them that we heard whether His 
Majesty was satisfied with us or the reverse. Here, 



8 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

in the family and in our own early youth, we 
already began to experience the ** System of the 
Third," the unfortunate method whereby, to the 
exclusion of any direct exchange of views, decisions 
were made and issued by means of third persons 
who were also the sole mouthpieces by which the 
position of the interested party could be stated to 
the judge. This principle, so attractive to a man 
of such a many-sided character and so immersed in 
affairs as unquestionably the Kaiser has always 
been, took deeper and wider root with the advance 
of years, and in cases in which place-seeking, in- 
gratiating and irremovable courtiers or politicians 
have gained possession of average posts that gave 
them the position of go-between has caused the ex- 
clusion of disagreeable reports and the doubtless 
often quite unconscious distortion of news with 
its consequent mischief. The ** department" (Kab- 
inet), especially the Department of Civil Adminis- 
tration was fundamentally nothing but a "personal 
board," the head of the department {chef de cabinet) 
was the mouthpiece and intermediary of any and 
every voice that made itself heard in this sphere of 
activity; he was also the bearer of the Imperial de- 
cision. The idea of such a position presupposes un- 
qualified and almost superhuman impartiality and 
justice — doubly so, when the ruler (as in this case 
the inner circle was well aware) is susceptible to in- 
fluence and is shaken by bitter experiences. Then 



CHILDHOOD DAYS 9 

the responsibility of these posts becomes as great 
as the power they confer, if their occupant exceeds 
the clearly defined limit indicated. 

Then, and still more when they tacitly combine 
their influences so as to strengthen their position, 
they and their helpers at court become distorters of 
the views upon which the ruler must base his final 
and important decisions. It is they who are really 
responsible for the wrong decisions that were made 
in the name of the ruler and which possibly sealed 
his fate and that of his people. 

But who would think now of discussing the sins 
committed against the German people by the heads 
of many years' standing of the Civil Department and 
the head of the Marine Department in their duo- 
logues over the daily "Vortrage." Closely and 
firmly they held the Kaiser entangled in their con- 
ceptions of every weighty question. If, after all, a 
mesh was rent, either through his own observation or 
by the bold intervention of some outsider, their daily 
function gave them the next morning an opportunity 
of repairing the damage and of removing the im- 
pression left by the interloper. I am aware that 
none of these men ever wittingly exercised a noxious 
influence. Every one considers his own nostrum 
the only one and the right one to effect a political 
cure. 

Turning from those who were the pillars of this 
principle back to the principle itself, I know too that 



10 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

a chef de cabinet who would have influenced and 
moulded the decisions of the Kaiser in quite another 
way might have proved a blessing to the Fatherland 
and to us all, if that chef had been a firm, strong and 
steadfast personality. But unfortimately destiny 
placed among the Kaiser's advisers no men of such a 
stamp with the single exception of the clever and 
resolute Geheimrat von Berg whose appointment to 
the responsible post of Chief of the Civil Depart- 
ment took place in the year 1918 — consequently too 
late to be of any effective service. In general, the 
notions of the rest were characterized by dull half- 
heartedness. Wherever they had to suggest men 
for the execution of new tasks, the men whom they 
proposed and recommended were only too often 
mediocre. Any one who was willing to go his own 
road with a resolute tread was carefully avoided. 
Hence, instead of a determined course, there was 
eternal tacking — instead of a steadfast and clear- 
sighted grasp of the consequences of such a policy, 
there was masking of the imminent dangers and a 
deaf ear for the louder and louder warnings of 
anxiety and alarm, until at last the cup of fate which 
they had helped to fill flowed over. 

It was in the obscurity of their departments that 
these "advisers of the crown" labored, and it is 
into the darkness of oblivion that their names will 
disappear. But the taint of their doings will cleave 
to His Majesty's memory where no more guilt at- 



CHILDHOOD DAYS 11 

taches to him than just this: not to have displayed 
a better knowledge of character in the choice of his 
entourage and not to have been more resolute in 
dealing with his advisers when the wisest heads and 
the stoutest hearts among all classes in Germany 
were but just good enough for such responsible 
positions. 

It was a fundamental mistake that only the Im- 
perial Chancellor made his report in private. All 
other ministers were accompanied by the chiefs of 
their respective departments; for the reports of the 
Military and Naval Ministers, indeed, Adjutant- 
General von Plessen was also present. In this way 
the departments acquired a certain preponderance 
over the minister or the man who was respon- 
sible. 

But this theme has led me far astray. I must re- 
turn to the recollections of my youth. I stopped at 
the "System of the Third Party." In regard to us 
boys, the result was that when we acquired military 
rank, the Kaiser's intercourse with us was generally 
conducted through the head of the Military Depart- 
ment or through General von Plessen and, indeed, 
that in quite harmless matters of a purely personal 
nature, we occasionally received formal military no- 
tices. (Kabinetts-Orders.) Amicable and friendly 
discussion between father and son scarcely ever took 
place. It was clear that the Kaiser avoided any 
personal controversy in which decisions might be 



12 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

necessary; here, again, the third party was inter- 
posed. For trivialities which, under other condi- 
tions, a few paternal words might have settled, in- 
termediaries and outsiders were employed and 
thus made acquainted with the affair; in my own 
case, since nature has not gifted me with a taste 
for such punctilious formalities, the tension was 
often increased. It is quite possible that these gen- 
tlemen, who were convinced of the very profound 
importance of their missions, were not always re- 
ceived by me with a seriousness corresponding to 
their own self-esteem and that they rewarded me 
by taking the first opportunity to express to His 
Majesty their views on my immaturity and lack of 
courtesy and dignity. Most certainly these inter- 
mediaries are in no small degree answerable for mis- 
understandings, and for the fact that small conflicts 
were occasionally intensified or caused all kinds of 
prejudices and imputations. Sometimes I received 
the impression that these little intrigues assumed 
the character of mischief-making. Everything I 
said or did was busily reported to His Majesty; and 
I was then young and careless, and I certainly ut- 
tered many a thoughtless word and took many a 
thoughtless step. 

In such circumstances it was for me almost an 
emancipation to be ordered before the Kaiser in 
regimentals and to receive from him in private a 
thorough dressing down on account of some inci- 



CHILDHOOD DAYS 13 

dent connected with a special escapade. It was 
then that we understood one another best. More- 
over, one might often, in such colloquies, give rein 
to one's tongue. An absolutely innocent example 
just occurs to me. I had always been an enthu- 
siastic devotee of sport in all its forms: hunting, 
racing, polo, etc. But even here there were re- 
strictions, considerations and inhibitions. One felt 
just like a poacher. Thus I was not to take part 
in races or in hunting on account of the dangers 
involved. But it was for that very reason that I 
liked this sport. Now I had just ridden my first 
public race in the Berlin-Potsdam Riding Club — 
and was hoping that there would be no sequel in 
the shape of a row, when next morning the Kaiser 
ordered me to appear before him at the New Palace 
in regimentals. There was thunder in the air. 

"You've been racing." 

"Zu befehl." 

"You know that it is forbidden.'* 

"Zu befehl." 

"Why did you do it, then?" 

"Because I am passionately fond of it and be- 
cause I think it a good thing for the Crown Prince 
to show his comrades that he does not fear danger 
and thereby sets them a good example." 

A moment's consideration, and then suddenly 
His Majesty looks up at me and asks: 

"Well, anyway, did you win?" 



14 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

"Unfortunately Graf Koenigsmarck beat me by 
a short head." 

The Kaiser thumped the table irritably: "That's 
very annoying. Now be off with you." This time 
my father had understood me and had appreciated 
the sportsman in me. 

The older I grew, the oftener did it happen that 
serious men of the most varied classes applied to 
me to lay before the Kaiser matters in which they 
took a special interest or to call the attention of 
His Majesty to certain grievances or abuses. I took 
such matters up only when I was able to inquire 
into them thoroughly and to convince myself of 
the justification for any interference. Even then 
their number was considerable. In most cases the 
subjects were disagreeable; and they concerned 
affairs which my father would probably never other- 
wise have heard of and which he nevertheless ought, 
in my opinion, to be made acquainted with. 

The most difficult matter that I had to take to 
him was doubtless the one which I was forced to 
deal with in the year 1907. It was then that I had 
to open his eyes to the affair of Prince Philip Eulen- 
burg. Undoubtedly it was the duty of the respon- 
sible authorities to have called the Kaiser's atten- 
tion long before to this scandal which was becoming 
known to an ever-widening circle. But they failed 
to lay the matter before him; and since they left 
him in total ignorance of it, I was obliged to inter- 



CHILDHOOD DAYS 15 

vene. Never shall I forget the pained and horrified 
face of my father, who stared at me in dismay, when, 
in the garden of the Marble Palace, I told him of 
the delinquencies of his near friends. The moral 
purity of the Kaiser was such that he could hardly 
conceive the possibility of such aberrations. In this 
case he thanked me unreservedly for my interference. 
In contrast with the Eulenburg affair, most of the 
questions which, on my own initiative or at the sug- 
gestion of others, I had to bring before His Majesty 
were questions of home or foreign politics, or they 
concerned leading personages, nay, rather persons 
who were irresolute and flaccid, but who stuck tight 
to posts which ought to have been occupied by clear- 
sighted and steadfast men. In such cases the Kaiser 
generally listened to me quietly, and frequently he 
took action; more often, however, he was talked 
round again by some one else after I had left. It 
was inevitable that, in the long run, my reports 
and suggestions should affect him disagreeably. As 
he travelled very much, I saw comparatively little 
of him. In consequence, our meetings were mostly 
encumbered with a whole series of communications 
and questions by which he felt himself bothered. I 
myself was fully conscious of the pressure of these 
circumstances, but saw no means of altering them. 
Anyway, I considered it my duty to keep the Kaiser 
frankly informed of all that, in my view, he ought 
to know but would otherwise remain ignorant of. 



16 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

Notwithstanding all this tension and although my 
father was annoyed by certain idiosyncrasies of mine 
— above all by my disinclination to adopt the tra- 
ditionally princely manner — he was, in his own way, 
fond of me, and in the secret recesses of his heart 
proud of me too. 

Naturally, much was whispered, gossiped and 
written in public about these personal relations of 
ours. If I had possessed the nature to take all this 
sort of thing seriously, I might soon have appeared 
very important in my own eyes. Repeatedly there 
was talk of marked discord, of sharp reprimands on 
my father's part, of open or covert censure. In all 
this, as I have shown and as I would in no wise cloak 
or disguise, there was sometimes a grain of truth — 
a grain about whose significance a mighty cackle 
arose among the old women of both sexes. To re- 
iterate, there were early and manifold differences of 
opinion and many of them led to some amount of 
dispute. In so far as these conflicts were concerned 
with personal affairs and not with political ques- 
tions, they were, at bottom, scarcely more last- 
ing or more serious than those which so often occur 
everywhere between father and son, between repre- 
sentatives of one generation and another, between 
the conceptions of to-day and those of to-morrow; 
the difference lay in the enormous resonance of court 
life which echoed so disproportionately such simple 
events. Thus, these rumors do not really touch the 



CHILDHOOD DAYS 17 

heart of the matter. The frequently recurring fact 
that father and son differ fundamentally in char- 
acter, temperament and nature, appears to me, so 
far as I know the Kaiser and know myself, applic- 
able to us. It is, indeed, regularly observable in the 
history of our house. 

It is possible, too, that there has come between 
us the great epochal change from traditional con- 
ceptions to a broader view of life — a change which 
seems to have inserted itself between people of the 
Kaiser's years and my contemporaries and by which 
I have benefited while he has viewed it with hos- 
tility. At any rate, many of his notions, opinions 
and actions appeared to me strange and even in- 
comprehensible; they struck me so at an early 
period of my life and the more so the older I grew. 
The first group of the questions towards which, even 
as a lad, I felt a certain inner opposition, concerned 
court ceremony as it was then practised. It was 
painful to me to see people losing their freedom 
through prescribed and often thoroughly musty 
regulations. Each became, I may say, the actor 
of a part; nay, under the influence of these sur- 
roundings, men who were otherwise clever lost their 
own opinion and yielded here nothing more than the 
average. Hence, wherever possible, I myself later 
on avoided everything courtly, pompous or decora- 
tive; and, as far as was feasible, I suppressed all for- 
malities in my own circle. For my recreative hours 



18 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

I desired, not endless reunions and ceremonious 
gala performances, but unrestrained intercourse with 
people of all kinds, sociability in a small circle, 
theatres, concerts, hunting and sport. 

Intercourse with persons of my own age always 
had a greater attraction for me than association 
with people much older than myself, though I never 
designedly avoided the latter. Furthermore, my 
natural bent bringing me perhaps more in touch with 
actualities than was possible to my father and 
giving me the chance to talk with and listen to a 
greater number of unprejudiced persons of all pro- 
fessions, I frequently felt impelled by the convic- 
tions thus gained to warn and to contradict. But 
I have ever recognized in the Kaiser my father, my 
Imperial overlord, to whom it was my duty as well 
as my heart's wish to show every respect and every 
honor. 

I have been perusing the pages which I penned 
recently as reminiscences of my childhood and of 
my attitude towards my parents. The perusal sug- 
gests to me that my jottings are not quite just to 
my father's character, that they speak only of petty 
weakness, that, if I am to give a complete sketch of 
his personality, I must dwell upon him more in 
detail. When I try to distinguish his deepest charac- 
teristic, a word forces itself upon my attention 
which I am almost shy of applying to any man of 



CHILDHOOD DAYS 19 

our own day, a word which seems hollow and trite 
because, like some small coin, it is flung about so 
continually and thoughtlessly: it is the word ''EdeV 
(noble). The Kaiser is noble in the best sense of 
the word; he is full of the most upright desire for 
goodness and piety, and the purity of his intel- 
lectual cosmos is without a blemish and without 
a stain. Candor that makes no reservations, that 
is perhaps too unbounded in its nature, ready con- 
fidence and belief in the like trustworthiness and 
frankness on the part of others are the fundamental 
features of his chatacter. Talleyrand is said to 
have uttered somewhere the maxim: ''La parole 
a ete donnee a Vhomme pour deguiser sa pensee." 
With my father it has often seemed to me as though 
speech had been bestowed upon him that he might 
unfold to his hearer every nook and cranny of his 
rich and sparkling inner world. He has always al- 
lowed his thoughts and convictions to gush forth in- 
stantaneously and immediately — ^without prelude and 
without prologue, an incautious and noble spend- 
thrift of an ever-fertile intellect which draws its 
sustenance from comprehensive knowledge and a 
fancy whose only fault is its exuberance. More- 
over, he is by nature and by ethico-religious train- 
ing free from all guile; he would regard secrecy, 
dissimulation or insincerity as despicable and far 
beneath his dignity. The idea that the Kaiser 
could ever have wished to gain his ends by false 



20 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

pretenses or to pursue them by tortuous routes is 
for me quite unimaginable. It may be that, with 
all this unreserved and unrestrained self-expression, 
the passion for complete frankness which is implanted 
in every virtuous being found, in the Kaiser, its 
strongest support in his evident overestimation of 
his momentary personal influence. In a personal 
exchange of ideas he believed himself to be sure of 
immediate victory and to need the expedients of 
trickery or dodgery just as little as he did wordy 
diplomatic skirmishing. I have a thousand times 
observed the effects of his personality to be indeed 
very great and have seen men of otherwise thor- 
oughly independent habit fall an easy prey to his 
frequently fascinating, though perhaps only transi- 
tory, influence. 

Nevertheless, such successes, experienced from 
youth onward and, still more, the consequent ex- 
pressions of admiration and the flattery of com- 
plaisant friends and courtiers in the end clouded his 
judgment concerning the expediency of thus sacrific- 
ing every final reserve as well as obscuring his in- 
sight into the fact that the individual^ven though 
he be an emperor and a never so energetic personal- 
ity — ^is of little ultimate weight in comparison with 
the vast world-shifting currents of time. 

To this lack of perspective in estimating his per- 
sonal relations and his personal influence may be 
partly attributed his remaining so long unconscious 



CHILDHOOD DAYS 21 

of the full significance of the approaching danger. 
Many a false estimate was formed by him in this re- 
gard, and his confiding trust was not seldom lulled 
into security by clever opponents. 

So it happened that, even when the enormous 
pressure of economic and political forces was incon- 
trollably driving the world towards the catastrophe 
of war, he believed himself able to bring the wheels 
of fate to a standstill by means of his influence in 
London and St. Petersburg. The capacity to esti- 
mate men and things correctly — ^that is, impartially 
and objectively and without any personal exaggera- 
tion — ^is of the greatest moment to rulers and states- 
men. It has not been liberally bestowed upon the 
Kaiser, and my impression is that responsible indi- 
viduals and the heads of the various "cabinets" 
have not, by any means, always intervened with 
the energy necessary to correct erroneous concep- 
tions of this description. 

In the depths of his nature my father is a thor- 
oughly kind-hearted man striving to make people 
happy and to create joyousness around him. But 
this trait is often concealed by his desire not to 
appear tender but royal and exalted above the small 
emotions of sentiment. He is thoroughly idealistic 
in thought and feeling and full of confidence towards 
every collaborator who enters fresh into his environ- 
ment. Present and future he has always seen and 
gauged in the mirror of his own most individual 



22 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

mental cosmos, which became all the more unreal, 
the harder and the more inflexible grew the secret 
and the open struggle for our national existence, 
both within the realm and without it, or the more 
harshly one fragment of this cosmos of ideas after 
another was snatched away and crushed by the hand 
of destiny. 

In the chivalrous ethics of the Kaiser his con- 
ception of loyalty is of great moment. He de- 
mands it without reserve, and there is scarcely any 
dereliction which he feels more keenly than actions 
or omissions that he regards as breaches of trust. 
Take one example: he has never, from the bottom 
of his heart, pardoned Prince Biilow for not giving 
him that support which he might have expected in 
the November incidents of 1908. As a matter of 
fact, unless I am mistaken, those severe conflicts, 
with their stormy Reichstag sittings and their num- 
berless press attacks, meant for him far more than 
an affront to his Imperial position or dignity. It was 
only to outsiders that they appeared to have this 
effect. Possibly I was able at that time to see 
deeper into the heart of my Imperial father than 
any one, save my dear mother; and I am firmly 
convinced that, from experiences which were for 
him barely conceivable and scarcely tolerable, his 
self-confidence received a blow from which it has 
never recovered. His joyous readiness of decision 
and intrepid energy of will, till then undaunted, 



CHILDHOOD DAYS 23 

were suddenly broken; and I believe that the germ 
was then planted of the lack of decision and vacil- 
lation noticeable in the last ten years of his life and 
especially during the war. From that moment on- 
ward, the Kaiser allowed affairs to glide more and 
more into the hands of the responsible advisers in 
the various Government departments, eliminating 
himself and his own views either partially or even 
entirely. A secret and never-expressed anxiety con- 
cerning possible fresh conflicts and responsibilities 
which he might have to confront had come over him. 
Where strong hands were needed, complaisant and 
officious persons pushed themselves forward, and, 
making use of the opportunity to usurp functions 
which should never have come within their scope, 
they dragged into the sphere of their own small- 
mindedness matters which, so long as the then 
current constitutional ideas remained valid, ought 
never to have been withdrawn from the range of 
the unhampered Imperial will. Still I will not be 
too hard upon these advisers; I do not wish to be 
unjust to them; it may be that, in the anguish of 
those dark days, His Majesty was sometimes even 
grateful to them for so busily troubling their heads 
— it may be that they believed themselves to be 
acting for the best while in reality creating only 
evil. 

The Kaiser, too, in those years of self-depression 
and of weakness just as in his days of unbroken 



24 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

self-confidence, desired to do his best, and he re- 
garded as the best the peace of the realm. Nothing 
should destroy that; with every means at his com- 
mand he would secure that to the empire. The ter- 
rible tragedy of his life and of his life's work lay in 
the fact that everything he undertook to this end 
turned to the reverse and became a countercheck 
to his aims, so that finally a situation arose in which 
we were faced by enemy upon enemy. 

April, 1919. 

Weeks have passed since I last occupied myself 
with these pages. Tidings have come to hand 
which are enough almost to break one's heart, — 
which show our poor country to be torn by internal 
dissension and to be conducting a desperate struggle 
with a pack of heartless and greedy ** victors." In 
the face of these monstrous events and problems, I 
have felt as though the individual had no right 
whatever to review and determine the petty incidents 
of his own life and destiny. Thus spring has had to 
come before I could revert once more to my task — 
spring with its sunny, green pastures in which droll 
little lambs are skipping beside the dirty winter- 
wooUed ewes, and across which blow the clear sea- 
breezes in ceaseless restlessness. 

In this radiance and in the revived color every- 
where visible, all things look better, and people too 
have more genial faces. 



CHILDHOOD DAYS 25 

When I think of these first months here in the 
island ! With the best will to make the best of it, 
there was not much to be done. Distrust and re- 
serve in every one — among the fisherfolk and among 
the peasants, and among the tradespeople in Ooster- 
land, in Hippolytushoef and in Den Oever. A shy 
edging to one side when you came by: "De kroon- 
prins" — and that was as much as to say: "That 
Boche — the murderer of Verdun, the libertine." 
What the Entente with the help of their mendacious 
press and their agents had beaten into the minds of 
these good people had got thoroughly fixed. Nor 
was there any possibility of an explanation with 
them concerning this nonsense. Moreover, my quar- 
ters can scarcely be heated, since these little iron 
stoves will not bum, and our famous single lamp 
smokes and can only bum when petroleum is to 
be had. Therefore, as soon as it is dark, one crawls 
into bed and lies there sleepless to torture oneself 
with the same matters over and over again, and 
gets half mad with worrying over the questions: 
"How did it all happen?"— "Where lies the blame?" 
— "How might one have done better?" 

Now, all has grown less hard and is more tolera- 
ble. To-day, the people of the island know that 
none of all the slanders that have been circulated 
about me are justified. Their distmst has van- 
ished; their simple, unsophisticated nature now 
meets me frankly. Every one greets me in a friend- 



26 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

ly manner, and most people shake hands. I 
also receive occasional invitations and then sit in 
these clean little rooms to sip a cup of cocoa 
and make trial of my acquirements in the Dutch 
language. 

One person in particular has done much to en- 
lighten people and to smooth my path, namely. 
Burgomaster Peereboom. At the outset, he was the 
only one who thrust aside all prejudice, and sought 
to see and to help the human individual — he and 
his family. And to him and to his warm-hearted 
and active wife I am indebted for many a little im- 
provement in my modest household at the Parson- 
age as well as for many a wise hint that taught me 
to understand my new environment. One or two 
Germans also tendered me immediate help; among 
them the experienced Count Bassenheim of Amster- 
dam, who knows Holland as well as he does his 
beautiful Bavaria; then the clever and ever-faithful 
Baron Huenefeld, formerly vice-consul at Maas- 
tricht, whose care for me has been most touching; 
further, there are several German business men of 
Amsterdam, faithful, self-sacrificing men to whom I 
owe a lifelong debt of gratitude. And so there only 
remains unchanged the anxiety as touching my old 
home, my country, the longing for her and for those 
to whom I belong. 

But not of that now. I will talk here of that 
other life which to me, in the seclusion of this island. 



CHILDHOOD DAYS 27 

often appears so distant as to be separated from the 
present by a whole train of years. 

Bom heir-apparent to a throne, I was brought up 
in the particular notions valid by tradition for a 
Prussian prince. No one in the family had ever 
cherished a doubt as to the suitability and excellence 
of these principles, for in their youth all its male 
members had traversed exactly the same path. 

While fully recognizing the undeniable value of the 
old Prussian traditions, I believe, nevertheless, that 
the narrow, sharply defined and hedged-in educa- 
tion of Prussian princes (in which the rigid etiquette 
of the court combines with the anxious care of the 
parental home to provide instructions for mentor, 
tutor and adviser) is calculated to produce a definite 
and not very original product adapted to ceremonial 
duties rather than a modern man capable of taking 
an unswerving course in the life of his times. If 
I had submitted tamely to the system, it would in 
time have led me into a position in which I should 
have been ignorant of the world, sequestered and 
secluded. The worst of such a position appears to 
me to be, not the Chinese Wall itself, but the ulti- 
mate incapacity to see the wall, so that the immured 
imagines himself free while in reality his mental 
range is closely circumscribed. 

At an early age, and certainly at the outset as a 
mere consequence of my natural disposition though 



28 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

later with growing consciousness and maturer judg- 
ment, I opposed the efforts to level out the inde- 
pendent features in me with the object of creating 
a "Normal Prussian Prince." Two directly diverg- 
ing views were at work here. On the one hand was 
the traditional notion stressed so emphatically 
throughout His Majesty's reign, the notion of the 
augustness (erhabenheit, exaltedness) of the ruler, 
the notion — figuratively expressed in the word itself 
— that the Prince, King, Kaiser must stand elevated 
high above the level of the governed classes; on the 
other hand was my own conception that he must 
become acquainted with life as it is and as it has to 
be lived by people of every station. It remains to 
be said that the endeavor to be true to my con- 
viction in thought and act caused me many a strug- 
gle and many an unpleasantness. 

The upbringing and the daily life of us children 
in the Imperial parental home was simple. We 
certainly were not indulged — least of all by our 
military governors. 

My first military governor — I was then a lad of 
seven years — was the subsequent General von Fal- 
kenhayn. I remember him with reverence and 
gratitude. He did not pamper me; permitted no 
excuses; and even in those childhood years he im- 
pressed upon me that, for a man, the words "dan- 
ger" and "fear" should not exist. In the best sense, 
he passed on to me the undaunted freshness of his 



CHILDHOOD DAYS 29 

faithful soldierliness. There was in me from infancy 
a passion for horses and riding. General von Fal- 
kenhayn arranged our rides in the beautiful environs 
of Potsdam in such a way that we had obstacles to 
surmount. Hedges, fences, walls, ditches and steep 
gravel-pits had to be briskly taken. He used to say 
on such occasions: ** Fling your heart across first; 
the rest will follow." That saying I have taken 
with me through life; again and again, and in recent 
circumstances when the drab hours of my destiny 
and my loneliness here in this island have threatened 
to stifle me, the general has stood before my mind's 
eye and has helped me over my difficulties with his 
brave soldierly philosophy. 

Even when a lad I had to prove myself as patrol 
and scout, and I was also instructed in reading maps. 
Gymnastics, drill and swimming were ardently prac- 
tised as physical training. 

An event that made a deep impression upon my 
young mind recurs to me. I was permitted to pre- 
sent myself to Prince Bismarck in due form and not 
in the unofficial way in which I had done so when, 
as a youngster, I suddenly surprised him in his den. 
From my father I received instructions to don my 
uniform and meet him at Friedrichsruh; I was go- 
ing to the eightieth birthday of the ex-chancellor 
(Alt-Reichskanzler). To don uniform was, even in 
that early period, the acme of delight to my boyish 
heart; and to this was to be added a visit to the 



30 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

man whom, then as now, a healthy instinct taught 
me to regard as a sort of legendary hero. In the 
night before this journey, I did not sleep a wink. 

Bismarck was suffering severely from gout, and 
leaned upon a stick to welcome us in the castle. 
At lunch he displayed an astounding liveliness and 
vigor; but, as a consequence of the excitement nat- 
urally experienced in this first ** official" appearance 
of mine, this general impression is all that I have 
preserved in my recollection. Moreover, it must be 
confessed that I was rendered somewhat anxious 
during the meal by the Prince's big boarhound, who 
suddenly laid his cold nose on my knee under the 
table, and growled very unmistakably whenever, 
unobserved, I tried to free myself. 

After lunch. His Majesty mounted horse and, on 
a piece of ploughland close to the castle, awaited 
Bismarck at the head of the Halberstadt Cuirassiers, 
whose chief the aged Prince had been appointed. I 
had the honor of accompanying the old gentleman 
in his carriage. In a truly paternal manner, he 
pointed out to me all the beauties of the Friedrichs- 
ruh Park. My father delivered a very fine speech 
and presented the Prince with a sumptuously 
wrought sword of honor. The Prince replied with 
a few pregnant words. 

Then we returned to the castle. I noticed that 
the Prince was very weary and fatigued; the pro- 
longed standing had doubtless put too great a strain 



CHILDHOOD DAYS 31 

upon him. His breathing was quick and heavy; 
and finally he tried to open the tight collar of his 
uniform, but failed. Almost startled by my own 
boldness, I bent over him and undid it; then he 
pressed my hand and nodded gratefully. 

We left the same afternoon. On this beautiful 
day, which I would not, for all that is dear to me, 
have blotted out of my memory, I had seen for the 
last time the greatest German of his century. 

Our first scientific education we received from our 
private tutor. I cannot approve of this method, 
for the pupil misses the stimulating rivalry of com- 
rades. When"! entered the Cadet School at Plon 
as a lad of fourteen, in April, 1896, large gaps mani- 
fested themselves in my knowledge, which neces- 
sitated a good deal of overwork. 

In my Plon days, the future General von Lyncker 
acted as governor to me and to my brother Eitel 
Friedrich. He was a typical high-minded Prussian 
officer of the old school. His unswervingly serious 
nature made it rather difficult for him to enter into 
the ideas of us immature little creatures or to dis- 
cover the appropriate means of managing us. And 
we were real children at that time. For him there 
existed only orders, school, work and duty, and 
again orders and duty. When I grew a bit older, 
we often got to loggerheads. As a youth, I cer- 
tainly was not a pattern being for the show-window 
of a boys' boarding-school; but that there was so 



32 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

much to complain of as General von Lyncker man- 
aged to discover day in day out, I really caimot be- 
lieve. Moreover, although quite unintentionally on 
his part, his somewhat hard and unyielding manner 
hurt me. But it was this very General von Lyncker 
whom the Kaiser afterwards employed as go-be- 
tween when disagreeable conflicts arose. Although 
I readily and gratefully acknowledge that, in the task 
imposed upon him. General von Lyncker never 
adopted the role of time-serving tale-bearer or con- 
sciously increased the friction — anything of the kind 
would have been totally irreconcilable with his sin- 
cere and lofty character — still, I cannot help saying 
that the introduction of his frequently brusque 
manner rather tended to widen the breach than to 
narrow it. 

As Plon cadets, we were very fond of Frau von 
Lyncker. At that time a special School of Princes 
was formed at Plon for my brother Fritz and me. 
Each of us had three fellow pupils. In harmony 
with the totally false educational principle which 
this evinced, any association with the other cadets 
was looked at askance. Nevertheless, from the 
very first day onward, we continually leaped o'er 
the barriers and seized every opportunity of culti- 
vating comradeship and friendly relations with the 
other lads of the corps. The football, the rowing 
matches and the snowball fights are still for me 
pleasant recollections. Many of my then "corps'* 



CHILDHOOD DAYS 33 

companions, drawn from the most varied classes, 
have become good friends of mine with whom I 
have remained bound by close ties ever since. Dur- 
ing the war, I often quite unexpectedly ran up 
against one or other of my old Plon comrades in 
distant France; and then, amid all the harsh ear- 
nestness of the time, the long-lost, care-free days 
of youth rose before our memories like a sweet 
smile. 

In acquiescence with my special wish, I was per- 
mitted to apprentice myself to a master turner. 
Among the Hohenzollems it is customary for every 
Prince to learn a trade. In general, of course, such 
princely apprenticeships must not be regarded too 
seriously, though the tradition is a valuable symbol 
and un beau geste. Now, while I will not assert 
that I could make my way in the world with my 
turner's craft, I can say with truth that I have prac- 
tised it with pleasure again and again and that mas- 
ter and apprentice took the matter quite seriously. 
My good master kept me hard at it, and I was an 
ardent and willing pupil, and felt thoroughly happy 
in the atmosphere of the joiner's workshop and in 
his simple, cleanly household. 

Our associations at Plon took us into the families 
of the masters, and we had also friendly relations 
with the grammar-school boys. Furthermore, I had 
a few "friends" among the farmers of the neighbor- 
hood; I ploughed many a piece of their land, and I 



34 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

still remember how proud I was when my furrow 
turned out neat and straight. 

In the year 1887, that is, long before my Plon 
days, an event happened which I must recall here as 
it made a strong and vivid impression on my young 
imagination. It was my first sea trip. The aged 
Queen Victoria was to celebrate the jubilee of her 
reign. My parents went to England to take part 
in the festivity and took me with them. It was at 
a great garden fete in St. James's Park that I first 
saw the Queen — sitting in a bath-chair in front of 
a sumptuously decorated tent. She was very 
friendly to me, kissed me and kept on fondling me 
with her aged and slightly trembling hands. Un- 
fortunately, I have no recollection whatever of the 
words she spoke; I only know that my boyish fancy 
was far more occupied with the two giant Indians 
on guard before the tent than with the weary little 
old lady herself. 

The huge multitude in St. Jameses Park and the 
intermingling of representatives of almost every 
race made a deep impression upon me. And if my 
youthfulness rendered me unable to appreciate the 
symbolism of the British world-power embodied in 
the picture, it nevertheless absorbed with awe the 
astounding copiousness of what it saw and forever 
guarded me from underrating the significance of the 
British Empire. 



CHAPTER II 

SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, AND STUDENT 

If I regard the turn of the century as the close of 
my childhood and youth, I would consider the years 
which followed as my apprenticeship. 

After I had passed my matriculation examination, 
and following upon the declaration of my majority 
on May 6, 1900, my father placed me in the body 
company of the First Foot-Guards, in which regi- 
ment, according to tradition, every Prussian Prince 
must first serve. This was a good thing since that 
regiment has always been conspicuous for its excel- 
lence, and the young Princes receive in it a thor- 
oughly strict training. I was afterwards appointed 
lieutenant and chief of the 2d Company, which 
my father had commanded when a young Prince; 
accordingly, I said to myself: "You are taking here 
the first steps on the road which is to lead you, 
through years of learning, to the great tasks of life." 

I was inspired by the strongest faith in my life 
and my future — ^filled with a sacred determination 
to be honest and conscientious. The moment when, 
in the venerable old Schlosskapelle in Berlin, I took 
the military oath on the colors of the body corps 
before my Imperial father and Supreme War Lord 
still stands out clearly before me in all its thrilling 
solemnity. 

35 



36 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

The barracks of the First Foot-Guards, the regi- 
ment house and the Casino of the Officers' Corps 
were now my new home; the rigid and numerous 
military tasks were my new school. The chief of 
my company, Count Rantzau, was a typical old, 
experienced and conscientious Prussian officer of the 
line. He himself was always punctual to the min- 
ute; he never spared himself, and he devoted him- 
self fully to his profession; but he also required the 
utmost from his officers and his men. Accuracy in 
every detail and strictness towards laxity were com- 
bined with an unerring sense of justice and a warm 
heart which followed with human sympathy the 
progress of every one. His company revered him. 
Now, that excellent man rests in French soil before 
Rheims. 

Stem but just, a man and superior as he ought to 
be, honored and respected by me and by all was 
likewise my first commander. Colonel von Pletten- 
berg. With the same feelings, I recall also my old 
battalion commander. Major von Pliiskow; a giant 
even among the tall officers of the regiment, he was 
famous as a drill-master and, despite his strictness, 
much liked as an ever-kind superior. 

What I learned in the Foot-Guards formed the 
foundation of my entire military career. The value 
of faithfulness in little things, the much-decried 
fatigue-uniform, the iron discipline and the abused, 
because misunderstood, Prussian drill became clear 



SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 37 

to me in their full significance as a means of concen- 
trating the vast number of heads and forces into 
a single unit of the greatest strength. The army- 
trained on these principles gained the great and im- 
perishable victories of the year 1914. Unfortu- 
nately, in the long course of the war, this admirable 
Prussian method was pushed more and more into 
the background, greatly to the detriment of the 
army and its value. 

On the whole, my lieutenancy was an incompar- 
ably pleasant time. I was young and healthy, ful- 
filled my duties with passionate devotion and saw 
life in sunshine before me. A circle of friends of like 
age with myself enabled mie to enjoy the blessings 
of that comradeship which is the most important 
root whence a Prussian corps of officers draws its 
strength. To-day, alas, the green sods of France 
and Russia cover the mortal remains of most of the 
brave and trusty men who were then young and 
joyous and faithful; it is lonesome around me. 

In those distant days of my lieutenancy and for 
years afterwards, three dear friends stood particu- 
larly near to me; they were Count Finckenstein, 
von Wedel and von Mitzlaff — all of them at that 
time lieutenants. They shared with me joy and 
sorrow till fate separated us forever. Fincken- 
stein and von Wedel fell in the ranks of our fine old 
regiment — my dear Wedel at Colonfey and brave 
Finckenstein at the head of his company at Ba- 



38 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

paume. Mitzlaff was, for a time, orderly officer in 
my staff; subsequently he took over a squadron in 
the East and then returned to the west front as 
battalion leader. A mournful shroud hangs over 
the memory of my last sight of this trusty comrade. 
It was in the summer of 1918, just before the last 
great Rheims attack. On a visit to the staff of my 
brave Seventh Reserve Division, I learned by acci- 
dent that my friend Mitzlaff was with his battalion 
in the neighborhood. I at once drove over to him 
and found him in a little half-demolished farmhouse. 
Seated on a broken camp-bed, and sharing some 
cigarettes and a bottle of bad claret which he had 
managed to rake up somewhere in honor of my 
visit, we chatted for a long time about the events 
of our youth and exchanged many an anxious word 
concerning the future. Both of us knew how mat- 
ters stood and how overfatigued the troops were. 
Mitzlaff himself, however, was of good cheer. Then 
we held each other's hand for a good while and 
parted. I drove back to my staff quarters; while 
he moved up into the front position with his men. 
Three weeks later I stood beside his simple soldier's 
grave; a few days after I had bidden him farewell, 
the brave chap had fallen at the head of his men in 
storming the enemy's position. He was the last of 
my three faithful friends. 

I remained with the First Foot-Guards one year. 
During that time, the evening order-slip beside my 



SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 39 

bed determined the hours of the following day. But, 
in that winter, there was not much sleep for me; for 
my position demanded my presence at court festivi- 
ties and a crowd of private gatherings. Often I did 
not get to bed till two o'clock, and by seven I was 
in the barracks, where my duties kept me busy till 
noon and again from two till five. Frequently, too, 
after-dinner attendance at the cleaning of rifles, 
saddlery, and so on, fell to my lot. This task I 
was particularly fond of. My grenadiers sat in 
the lamplight cleaning and polishing their kits. 
This provided a natural opportunity to approach 
them quite closely and humanly and to converse 
with them about their little personal joys, sorrows 
and wishes. They talked of their homes or of their 
civilian occupations with brightened eyes, the fine 
German folk-songs and soldier's ballads filling up 
the intervals in the conversation. To have shared 
in such an evening would perhaps have opened the 
eyes of the clever people who babble so much about 
the tyranny and harsh treatment of the militarism 
of that time. 

During my lieutenancy, as also afterwards, I de- 
voted as much of my leisure time as possible to sport. 
This I did, not merely because of my natural in- 
clination for sport, but also because I considered its 
practice to be of particular significance for the future 
head of a state; and that is, after all, what I was. 

The community of sport is calculated, more than 



40 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

anything else, to remove internal and external bar- 
riers between people of like aims; for it is exactly 
in sport that the actually and manifestly best 
performance is decisive. Who accomplishes it — 
whether junker, business man or factory-hand, Chris- 
tian, Jew or Moslem — is a matter of indifference. 
Therefore I have repeatedly attended bicycle races, 
football matches, route marches and other sporting 
events; and, on suitable occasions, I have promoted 
them by the presentation of prizes. This, again, is 
one of the things by which I have given offense: a 
properly brought up heir-apparent should, forsooth, 
maintain an exalted position and hold himself aloof 
from such noisy affairs. All right, then, I have pur- 
posely not been this ideal of a prescribed heir-appar- 
ent; instead, by visiting sporting events, I have 
gained an insight into the life and bustle, and into 
the exigencies and desires of many classes of people 
with whom otherwise, by reason of my upbringing 
and general circumstances, I should never have 
come into touch. 

In those days, however, I was, above all, heart 
and soul a soldier; and it is no exaggeration to say 
that, of an evening, I looked forward with pleasure 
to my next day's duties. The training and the as- 
sociation with the rank and file, the strict old-Prus- 
sian discipline, the healthy physical exercise in wind 
and weather, the pride taken in the ancient regi- 
mental uniform — all this made me love the service. 



SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 41 

As with all things else, so too with the soldier's 
calling, one must bend to the task with one's whole 
being and with real love and devotion, if success is 
to be obtained. This is the spirit that must ani- 
mate both the officer and his troops. 

Short energetic spells of work with the utmost 
exercise of all one's capacity, smartness and dis- 
cipline, cleanliness and punctuality, punishment for 
every negligence or passive resistance, but a warm 
heart for the most meagre or the stupidest recruit, 
gaiety in the barracks, as much furlough as possible, 
exceptional distinctions for exceptional performances 
— in a word, sunshine during military service formed 
the fundamental principle which guided me. 

May, 1919. 
Two bitter-sweet days have been mine in this 
month of May. On the sixth, I celebrated the 
thirty-seventh anniversary of my birth. Loving 
letters from family and numberless indications of 
remembrance from all parts of my native country 
the homeland proved to me here in my seclusion 
that there are still people who feel that they belong 
to me and cannot be alienated from me by a never 
so wildly raging campaign of slander. From the 
island and from the Dutch mainland, many touching 
indications of love and sympathy have also reached 
me — little, well-meant presents for the improvement 
of my modest household, flowers in such plenty that 



42 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

the small narrow rooms of the parsonage cannot 
contain them. 

And then, after all the unspeakably severe and 
lonely experience of the past half-year, I was able, 
with the consent of the Dutch Government, to leave 
the island towards the end of the month and to 
celebrate a day with my mother on the estate of 
good Baron Wrangel. ** Celebrate"? I don't know 
whether that word suits the hours in which, arm in 
arm, and no one near, we walked up and down in 
the rose-dappled garden, and, as so often in the bet- 
ter days gone by, I was able unreservedly to pour 
out, to my heart's content, all that burdened it. 
To my mother, to that ever-sympathetic and com- 
prehending woman, so clear-sighted and wide-vi- 
sioned in her simple modesty, I could always come 
in past years when my thoughts and my heart 
needed the kindly and soothing hand of a mother to 
smooth out their tangles and creases. It was so 
when I was a child, it was so when I wore my lieu- 
tenant's uniform, it was so when later in life I had 
duties to fulfil in responsible positions; and that it 
has remained so to this day has been proved by 
those few short hours in which, after the first shock 
of reunion, we recovered our inward equanimity. 
Scarcely ever before had I felt so deeply the measure 
with which her nature and her blood had determined 
my own. 

During the initial period of my service in the 



SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 43 

First Foot-Guards, a sorrowful event at the begin- 
ning of the year 1901 took me once more to London, 
namely, the death of my great-grandmother, the 
aged Queen Victoria of England. 

Since the affair in St. James's Park, in which my 
boyish imagination had been too completely capti- 
vated by the exotic figures around her for me to 
gain anything but a purely superficial idea of the 
Queen, I had seen her twice. Each time the fea- 
tures of her character impressed themselves more 
deeply upon me; my eyes had been opened to the 
activities of this remarkable woman who maintained 
to the end her resolute nature and strength of will. 

Now, in the winter of 1901, I was to do her the 
last reverence. 

The Queen had died in her beautiful castle at 
Osborne in the Isle of Wight. There the coffin had 
been placed in a small room fitted up as a chapel. 
Over it was spread the English ensign, and six of 
the tallest officers of the Grenadier Guards kept 
watch beside it. In their splendid uniforms, their 
bearskin-covered heads bowed in sorrow, their folded 
hands resting upon their sword-hilts, they guarded, 
immovable as bronze knights, the last sleep of their 
dead sovereign. 

The transport of the dead Queen to London took 
place on board the "Victoria and Albert." During 
the entire passage, which lasted fully three hours, 
we steamed between a double row of ships of the 



44 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

entire British navy whose guns fired once more their 
salutes to the Queen. 

The funeral procession through the streets of Lon- 
don was most impressive. 

A moving incident occurred at Windsor on the 
way from Frogmore Lodge to the Mausoleum. It 
was a bitter winter day; and the train which brought 
the mortal remains of the Queen was several hours 
behind time. Just as the procession was about to 
start, the six artillery horses of the hearse began to 
jib; one of the wheelers kicked over the pole; the 
coffin began to sway, and threatened to slip from its 
platform. Prompt and brief orders were at once 
given by the then Prince Louis of Battenberg who 
was in command of the naval division drawn up at 
the spot. The horses were unharnessed, and, almost 
before one could realize what had happened, three 
hundred British seamen had their ropes fixed to the 
hearse; with calm tread and almost inaudibly, the 
dead Queen's sailors drew their sovereign to her 
last resting-place. 

In the spring of 1901 the period of my lieuten- 
ancy came to an end. I was now to study, and, 
like my father before me, I matriculated at Bonn 
University. 

The four semesters spent at the old alma mater 
were for me two delightful and fruitful years, re- 
plete with serious study and happy student's life 



SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 45 

and filled with all the enchantment of Rhenish 
charm and merriment. 

In accordance with tradition I became a member 
of the Borussia (Prussian) Corps. Nevertheless, I 
was not simply and solely a "Bonner Prussian"; 
on the contrary and rather in despite of the strict 
forms of the corps, I had many friends in other 
corps of the "Bonner S. C." 

My sport-loving heart led me to share with great 
delight in the fencing practice which formed the 
preparatory training for duelling. Fain would I have 
taken active part in the latter; but, as an officer, 
I was only permitted to use the unmuffled weapon 
in serious affairs of honor. Comprehensible as this 
youthful impulse still appears to me, though I by no 
means wish to underrate the value of the "scharfen 
mensur" for the training of eye, hand and nerve, 
I believe, nevertheless, that our German studentry 
exaggerated its value. As in the question of weap- 
ons, so, too, in regard to drinking-bouts, I consider 
that the " Trinkkomment " (drinking statutes) — for 
which I never had any great liking and to which, 
as a student, I submitted unwillingly — ^needs to be 
purged of many formulae that have developed into 
abuses. This, moreover, is demanded by the pres- 
sure of present circumstances. Genuine and prac- 
tical love for the German Fatherland, in its distress 
and humiliation, means work, and work and work 
again; it means this especially for our youth, who. 



46 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

in the self-training of their own personalities, are 
preparing values for the national entity on which 
may depend the fate of the coming generation. 

The hours of my delightful Bonn days that 
were not occupied in study or in corps life I em- 
ployed in intercourse with people of all classes in 
the Rhineland. I accepted gratefully the hospi- 
tality of professors, merchants and manufacturers 
in whose families I was welcomed with genuine 
Rhenish cordiality. Having hitherto come into 
touch mainly with people of the military class, 
these new associations provided me with copious 
fresh and vivid impressions as a valuable additional 
gain to the intellectual stimulus of the university 
studies proper. To these studies I devoted myself 
with ardor, and I often think with gratitude of the 
prominent men who acted as my counsellors and 
mentors, such men as: Zitelmann, Litzmann, Go- 
thein, Betzold, Schumacher, Clemen and Anschiitz. 
With special indebtedness I recall the brilliant lec- 
tures of Zom, the famous professor of constitutional 
law; and a strong bond of confidence and friendship 
still unites me with that great teacher. 

Out of my intercourse at Bonn with intellectual 
leaders in the fields of science, technology, industry 
and politics, there arose in me the desire henceforth 
to occupy myself more than ever before with the 
problems of our home and foreign policy and espe- 
cially with matters of sociology. 



SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 47 

Like the lieutenant's period of my life, the two 
sunny years at Bonn sped rapidly by. They 
brought me an abundance of delightful and valua- 
ble experiences: the enjoyment of nature in a world 
full of beauty, youthful knowledge, attachment to 
select and clever men, Rhenish joyousness and the 
germs of much knowledge that ripened later into 
intellectual possessions. 

Some amount of travel, undertaken during the 
vacations (in the late summer of 1901 through 
England and Holland) and, with my brother Eitel 
Fritz, at the close of my university career, also 
helped to widen my intellectual vision. The im- 
pressions afforded me I welcomed with an awakened 
and more receptive mind than ever before. 

When I recall those travels, two figures particu- 
larly stand out before me as lifelike and undimmed 
as though, not years, but only days or at most 
weeks separated me from them. These are Abdul 
Hamid, the last of the Sultans of the old regime, 
and Pope Leo XI I L Strange as it may seem, these 
two men, who, in their natures and in their world, 
differed in the extreme both outwardly and in- 
wardly, are inseparably united in my mind by 
circumstances from which I can scarcely detach 
myself. In the solemn completeness of the Vati- 
can, seemingly so untouched by haste or time, and 
in the fairyland of the Sultan's court, so entirely 
outside the range of every occidental gauge and law. 



48 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

there was revealed to me something utterly new 
and unsuspected, something into which I entered 
with astonishment. These men — ^the most remark- 
able Pope of the 20th century (for whose spiritu- 
alized being I could not, for a moment, feel any- 
thing but the deepest awe) and the ruthless, al- 
mighty Padishah (in whose presence I quickly 
recovered my self-possession) — both had the same 
expression of eye. Penetrating, clever, infinitely 
pondering and experienced, they looked at you with 
their gray eyes in which age had drawn sharply de- 
fined white rings around the piercing pupils. 

The picture that awaited my brother Eitel Fritz 
and me as we arrived at Constantinople on board 
the English yacht "Sapphire" on a wonderful spring 
morning, was absolutely enchanting; and the events 
of the few days during which we were guests at 
the Golden Horn augmented the impression that 
we were dreaming a dream out of the "Arabian 
Nights." 

Shortly after our arrival in the harbor, the Sul- 
tan's favorite son came to welcome us in the name 
of his father; and towards noon the Estrogul Dra- 
goons — excellent-looking troops on small white 
Arabs — escorted us to the Yildiz Kiosk, where the 
Sultan received us at the head of his General Staff 
and his court suite. 

Abdul Hamid was an exceptionally fascinating 
personality — small, bow-legged, animated, a typical 



SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 49 

Armenian Semite. He was exceedingly friendly, I 
might almost say paternal, towards us. 

We were quartered in a very beautiful Kiosk of 
the enormous palace buildings of the Yildiz. About 
half an hour after we had occupied our rooms, the 
Sultan came to pay us a return visit. He arrived 
in a little basket-chaise, driving the nimble horses 
himself and followed on foot by his entire big suite. 
This included many elderly stout generals, and as 
the Sultan drove at a trot and these good digni- 
taries were determined not to be left behind, their 
appearance when they got to the palace was any- 
thing but ravishing. 

The rules of the country permitted Abdul Hamid 
to speak nothing but Turkish; consequently, our 
conversations with him had to be interpreted sen- 
tence by sentence and were excessively wearisome. 
Moreover, the old gentleman understood our French 
perfectly, and when I happened to tell him some 
humorous anecdote or other, it was most amus- 
ing to see him laughing heartily long before the 
dragoman, with the solemnity of a judge, had given 
him the translation. 

In the evening a banquet was to be given in our 
honor. Where this was to take place no one knew 
at first, since the Sultan's fear of would-be assassins 
was so great that he took the precaution to keep 
the time and place of such festivities secret as long 
as possible. At the last minute, therefore, and much 



50 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

to the confusion of the marshals of his court, he 
issued the command for the dinner to be given in 
a great reception-room. 

The Sultan and I sat at the head of an intermi- 
nably long table. Every one else, including my poor 
brother, had to sit sidewise so as to face the 
Padishah; there was not much chance of eating 
anything, but the sight of the Sultan is as good as 
meat and drink to a believing Mohammedan. 

It struck me that my exalted host was wearing 
a very thick and badly fitting uniform, till a sudden 
movement on his part revealed to me the fact that 
he had a shirt of mail concealed underneath it. In 
conversation he evinced great interest in all German 
affairs and proved to be thoroughly informed on the 
most varied subjects; we discussed naval problems, 
the recent results of Polar research, the latest pub- 
lications on the German book market and, above 
all, military questions. 

The days that followed were no less interesting 
than the first. We visited the sights of the city and 
its environs, and the old gentleman displayed a 
touching care for our welfare. 

On the last day of our sojourn he invited us to a 
private dinner in his own apartments. The only 
other people present were my attendants, the Ger- 
man ambassador and the Sultan's favorite son. The 
Sultan, who was very fond of music, had asked me 
to play him something on the violin. The Prince 



SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 51 

accompanied me on the piano, and we played an 
air from "Cavalleria Rusticana," a cavatina by- 
Raff and Schumann's "Traumerei." Then there 
followed an affecting incident. As a surprise for the 
old gentleman, I had practised the Turkish National 
Anthem with my army doctor, Oberstabsarzt Wide- 
mann; and as soon as we had finished playing it, 
the Sultan, who seemed to be deeply moved, flung 
his arms about me; then, at a sign from him, an 
adjutant appeared with a cushion on which lay the 
gold and silver medal for arts and sciences, and this 
the ruler of all the Ottomans pinned to my breast. 
Then he showed us his private museum containing 
all the presents received by him and his ancestors 
from other European Princes. Here, among a great 
quantity of trash, were grouped a number of beau- 
tiful and valuable articles. Thus, I recall an amber 
cupboard presented by Frederick William I. 

This meeting with old Abdul Hamid has remained 
for me one of the most interesting encounters that 
I have ever had with foreign Princes. 

In my twenty-second year, I was appointed to 
the command of the 2d Company of the First Foot- 
Guards. The amplitude of work involved by this 
responsible position for the next two and a half years 
brought me the greatest satisfaction. That I was 
intrusted with this particular company filled me with 
peculiar pleasure, as I had become acquainted with 



52 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

all my non-commissioned officers when a lieutenant. 
The heads of companies, squadrons and batteries 
form, in conjunction with the regimental com- 
manders, the backbone of the army, inasmuch as, 
within the scope of their duties, the value of the 
individual as leader and trainer has a chance of 
making itself felt. But not much inferior to the 
personal importance of the head of the company 
must be ranked the personality of the sergeant- 
major, significantly dubbed in Germany the "com- 
pany's mother." My own sergeant-major, Wergin, 
was a devoted and conscientious man who set an 
example to all in the company. Early and late his 
thoughts were occupied with the Royal Prussian 
service and he was, at the same time, continually 
busied about the welfare of his hundred and twenty 
grenadiers. 

In themselves the labors which fell to us captains 
in the First Foot-Guards were light and gratifying. 
The corps of non-commissioned officers was complete 
and consisted throughout of thoroughly efficient 
men; while the recruits of each year were excellent, 
all of them being well-educated young fellows and 
representing, in many cases, the fourth generation 
of service with the regiment or even with the same 
company. On the other hand, there was a certain 
difficulty in the bodily dimensions of the men. The 
height of many of them was altogether out of pro- 
portion to their breadth, and it was necessary to 



SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 53 

exercise great care lest they should, at the outset, 
be subjected to overexertion. Furthermore, my tall 
grenadiers could eat an incredible quantity of food ! 
With my company and with the troops afterwards 
intrusted to me, I laid great stress upon smartness 
and discipline. Our combined movements and our 
drill as a whole were worth seeing, and the grena- 
diers themselves were proud of their unimpeach- 
able form. 

My general principles were: short but very ener- 
getic spells of duty; for the rest, leave the men as 
much as possible unmolested; plenty of furlough, 
merriment in the barracks, excursions, visits to the 
sights of the town and its surroundings, occasional 
attendance at theatres, a minimum of disciplinary 
punishments. My men soon knew that, when he 
had to punish them, their captain suffered more 
than they did themselves. I endeavored to work 
upon their sense of honor, and that was nearly al- 
ways effective. 

Of course, in the foregoing, the duties and labors 
of a company's captain are anything but exhausted. 
Apart from all questions of military service, he must 
be a true father to his soldiers; he must know each 
individual and know where the shoe pinches in every 
particular case. Just this phase of the officer's call- 
ing gave me the greatest pleasure, and its exercise 
gained for me the confidence and the attachment of 
every one of my grenadiers. They came to me with 



54 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

their troubles both small and great, and I felt my- 
self happy in their firm and honest confidingness. 
Some fine, charming young fellows have passed thus 
through my hands. Many a one I met again after- 
wards in the war; many a one now rests in foreign 
soil, true to the motto on the helmet of our first 
battalion: Semper talis. 

Despite this passionate and devoted attention to 
my duties with the First Foot-Guards, in which 
regiment I made closer acquaintance with my two 
former adjutants and future lords in waiting — the 
conscientious Stiilpnagel and the faithful Behr — I 
was not purely and solely a soldier during those 
years. The Bonn impetus continued active, and 
the living questions of politics, economics, art and 
technical science occupied even more of my leisure 
time than in the years which had opened my eyes 
to their importance. 

Whereas, in the year of my lieutenancy, I had 
joined with a certain interest and curiosity in all the 
court festivities that came in my way, an ever- 
increasing dislike for the pomp of these affairs 
began to develop within me as my judgment ma- 
tured. The much too frequently repeated cere- 
monial, maintained as it was here in rigid form, 
appeared to me often enough to be an empty and 
almost painful anachronism. How many deeply 
reproachful or gently admonitory glances have I not 
received from the eyes of court marshals whose 



SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 55 

holiest feelings I had wounded ! But here, as in so 
many other spheres, the exaggeration of the circum- 
scribed, the "exalted," the congealed, had impelled 
me to a noticeable nonchalance — not by any means 
always intentional, often enough involuntary and as 
though a reaction was bound to take place of its 
own accord. 

Court festivities ! Thinking of them reminds me 
of a man for whom, and for whose art, I always cher- 
ished the greatest veneration and the sight of whom 
on these occasions invariably filled me with plea- 
sure and brought a smile to my lips. It was Adolf 
Menzel. His appearance was generally preceded by 
a tragi-comedy in his home and on the way to the 
palace, since he was so deeply absorbed in his work 
till the last moment that no amount of subsequent 
haste in dressing could enable him to arrive in time. 
In his later years an adjutant of my father's was 
always sent to fetch him, and this messenger often 
enough had to help in getting him dressed. But it 
was all to no purpose; he still came late. 

Indelibly imprinted in my memory is Menzel as 
I saw him at the celebration of the Order of the 
Black Eagle. On this occasion, the knights wear 
the big red-velvet robes and the chain of this high 
order. The little man, whom none of the robes 
would fit, struggled wildly the whole time with his 
train, at which he kept looking daggers from his 
spectacled, but expressively flashing eyes. 



56 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

At the close of the ceremony, it was customary 
for the knights to defile, two by two, before the 
throne, to make their obeisance to the Kaiser and 
to leave the chamber. According to the order of 
rank, it always happened that the dwarfish Menzel 
was accompanied by the abnormally tall haus- 
minister, von Wedel. When this ill-matched couple 
stood before the throne, the sight was in itself suffi- 
cient to fill one with a warm sense of amusement. 
But when, at the same time, the artist was aroused 
in Menzel's bosom, it was difficult to restrain one's 
hilarity. Menzel seemed to forget altogether where 
he was, and I have seen him, entirely captivated by 
the picturesqueness of the scene before him, give 
his head a sudden jerk, set his arms akimbo and 
stare long and fixedly at my father. — ^Meantime old 
Wedel had delivered his correct court bow and was 
marching off, when, to his horror, he noticed, his 
partner still planted before the throne. 

I don't know which delighted me more at that 
moment, whether the perplexed and dismayed face 
of the hausminister, who felt himself implicated in 
an unheard of breach of traditional etiquette, or 
the little genius who, turning his head first one way 
then the other, gazed at the Kaiser, heedless of 
those waiting impatiently behind him for the space 
in front of the throne. In the end, Wedel took 
courage and plucked Menzel by the sleeve. This 
interruption greatly annoyed the seemingly very 



SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 57 

choleric master of the brush. If a look can foam 
with rage, it was the one which, with head thrown 
back, Menzel flung up into the eyes of his tall com- 
panion. Then, gathering up the skirts of his robe, 
he stumbled angry and offended out of the room. 
It was as though he seemed to be saying to himself: 
"Bah! What a gathering, where one may not 
even look at people for a bit." 

Time and again have I stood and chatted with 
him at such court ceremonies. He was full of dry 
humor, sarcasm and criticism. Nothing escaped his 
notice; and since, little by little, people had ceased 
to expect from him a strict subordination to rules, 
he had come to regard himself as a species of supe- 
rior outsider and perhaps felt fairly happy in the 
exceptional position which certainly provided him 
with many an artistic suggestion. 

For my part, as already stated, these festivities, 
in which every one made a show of his own vain- 
glory, soon lost all attraction for me. Their rigid 
mechanical nature became dreary; their stiff pomp 
was like a mosaic made up of a thousand petty 
vanities set in consequentialism of every shade. I 
perfectly well recognized that ceremonial festivities 
necessitated a certain formality; but it appeared to 
me that they ought also to be animated by an in- 
nate freedom, and of this there was scarcely a trace 
perceptible. 

In free and unconstrained intercourse with capa- 



58 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

ble men of every category, with artists, authors, 
sportsmen, merchants, and manufacturers, I found 
greater stimulus than in these courtly shows. 
Moreover, as a lover of sport and the chase, I gave 
my physical frame its due share in cheerful exer- 
tion. 

Withal, I felt the vexation of having continually 
to take into consideration my position as Prince. 
In everything that I undertook, I was surrounded 
by people who — ^with the best intentions, no doubt, 
but much to my annoyance — rehearsed, again and 
again, their two little maxims: "Your Imperial 
Highness must not do that" and "Your Imperial 
Highness must now do this." Any attempt to re- 
pulse these admonitions or to introduce the freedom 
of action of a free being into this fusty formalism 
met with a total lack of imderstanding. It was, 
therefore, best to let people talk and to do what 
seemed most simple and natural. 

Only one person showed any sympathy with my 
opposition or any comprehension of my desire to 
be a little less "Crown Prince" and a little more of 
a contemporary human being. It was my dear 
mother. Ever and again, when I sat talking with 
her on such matters, I felt how much of her nature 
she had passed on to me — only that what in my 
blood offered masculine resistance had ultimately 
accommodated itself and quieted down in her. For 
this self-resignation she undoubtedly drew never- 



SOLDIER, SPORTSMAN, STUDENT 59 

failing energy from the deep religiousness of her 
nature. 

To the strictly religious character of her ethical 
views is also to be attributed her urgent desire that 
we, her sons, should enter wedlock "pure," and un- 
touched by experiences with other women. With 
this object in view, she and those around us whom 
she had instructed endeavored to keep us, as far as 
practicable, aloof from any one and every one who 
might possibly lead us astray from the straight 
paths of virtue. Undoubtedly my mother, in her 
thoughts and purposes, was inspired by the best 
intentions in regard to us and to our moral and 
physical welfare; and, whatever nonsense may have 
been early circulated about me, I, at any rate, 
cannot have greatly disappointed her. 



CHAPTER III 
MATRIMONIAL AND POST-MATRIMONIAL 

June, 1919. 

Wrote letters first thing. Then, after breakfast, 
two hours at the anvil in the smithy. Luijt told me 
that an American had offered twenty-five guilders 
for a horseshoe that I had forged. Might he give 
him one? These people are, after all, incorrigibly 
ready to inspire the likes of us with megalomania — 
even when we sit on a grassy island far from their 
madding crowd. At one time they used to pick up 
my cigarette-ends; and now, for a piece of iron that 
has been under my hammer, a snob offers a sum 
that would help a poor man out of his misery in the 
old homeland. It is not surprising to me that many 
a one, under the influence of this cult, has become 
what he is ! No, we are not always the sole culprits ! 

I left Luijt and went down to the sea, stripped 
and plunged in. How that washes the wretched- 
ness out of you for a while and makes you forget the 
whole thing ! 

About noon, I told my dear Kummer, who has 
been with me for some time, the story of the Ameri- 
can. He is on fire with enthusiasm ! "Twenty-five 
guilders, at the present rate of exchange ! I'd keep 

on making horseshoes for them the whole day." 

60 



MATRIMONIAL 61 

After dinner, looked through the old notes of the 
battles at Verdun and worked at the subject for the 
book. Took a walk with Kummer. 

And now it is evening again. 

Another day passed. How long will it be now? 

On a beautiful and memorable summer's day of 
the year 1904, in fir-encircled Gelbensande, the seat 
of the Dowager Grand Duchess Anastasia Michail- 
ovna of Mecklenburg, I was betrothed to Cecilie, 
Duchess of Mecklenburg. Not quite eighteen years 
of age, she was in the first blush of youth and full of 
gaiety and joyousness. The years of her childhood, 
in the society of her somewhat self-willed but loving 
and beautiful mother, had been replete with serene 
happiness. 

On a bright June day of the following year, my 
beautiful young bride gave me her hand for life. 
She entered Berlin on roses; she was received by the 
welcoming shouts of many thousands; she started 
upon her new career upborne by the love and sym- 
pathy of a whole people. And as, on that day, I 
rode down the Linden with my 2d Company to 
form the guard of honor, the warm-hearted partici- 
pation of all that great throng touched me very 
deeply. Moreover, the city and the happy faces, 
the many pretty lasses and the roses all over the 
place presented an unforgetable picture. My gren- 



62 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

adiers naturally felt that they quite belonged to the 
family and strode along smartly. 

A kind destiny permitted my choice to be free 
from all political or dynastic considerations. It fell 
upon her to whom my heart went out and who gave 
me her hand as freely and whole-heartedly in return. 
Our union was the outcome of genuine and sincere 
affection. 

Shall I take any notice of all the nonsense that 
has been talked and written concerning my wedded 
life? If the good people who have such "brilliant 
connections" and consequently such ** intimate in- 
sight" and "reliable information" would but be a 
little less self-important. I can say this: whenever 
the newspapers printed such things as "The Divorce 
of the Crown Prince Imminent," my wife and I had 
a good laugh over the matter. What a craving for 
sensation possesses the public ! 

I can only thank my wife from the bottom of my 
heart for having been to me the best and most faith- 
ful friend and companion, a tender helpmate and 
mother, forbearing and forgiving in regard to many 
a fault, full of comprehension for what I am, hold- 
ing to me unswervingly in fortune and in distress. 

She has presented me with six healthy and dear 
children whom I am proud of with all my heart and 
for whom I feel a longing as often as I stroke the 
head of one of these flaxen-haired little fisher lads 
here. May my four boys some day be brave Ger- 




< 

2: 
w 
Pi 
O 

W fa 






MATRIMONIAL 63 

man men, doing their duty to their country as true 
Hohenzollems ! 

During the time of severe torment that followed 
Germany's downfall, my wife stuck to her post with 
exemplary faithfulness and bravery and, in a hun- 
dred difficult situations, proved herself to possess 
that strong, noble nature for which I love and revere 
her. 

After all "war" has entered our married life! 

In 1915, the Crown Princess paid me a two-days' 
visit in my headquarters at Stenay. At 4 o'clock 
in the morning of the second day, there began a 
French air attack manifestly aimed full at my house 
which, at that time, had no bomb-proof cellar or 
dugout. A direct hit would undoubtedly have 
meant thorough work. The attack lasted two hours. 
In that time, twenty-four aeroplanes dropped bombs 
around us and a hundred and sixty bombs were 
counted. Several of them landed only a few yards 
from the house and, unfortunately, claimed a num- 
ber of victims. It was the severest air attack that I 
had ever experienced, and was a test to the nerves 
in which my wife showed the greatest courage and 
calmness. The way in which she stood the strain 
was magnificent. 

Following upon my captaincy in the First Foot- 
Guards, I was now to be appointed to the command 
of a squadron. Through the mediation of his Excel- 



64 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

lency, von Hiilsen, I requested His Majesty to in- 
trust me with a squadron of the Gardes du Corps. 
At first, His Majesty wished to appoint me to the 
Hussars. Ultimately, he gave way and placed me, 
in January, 1906, at the head of the body squadron 
of the Gardes du Corps, though, instead of the 
handsome uniform of that regiment, he ordered me, 
by special decree, to wear the uniform of the Queen's 
Cuirassiers. 

In this new position, my love of horsec found 
once more a wide field of activity, and I look back 
with great satisfaction to the delightful period dur- 
ing which I was attached to this proud regiment 
whose glorious traditions are so intimately bound up 
with the history of the Brandenburg-Prussian state. 
That it was no mere parade troop was proved at 
Zomdorf and again in the gigantic struggle of the 
world war. It was a bitter-sweet joy to me to re- 
ceive, only a few days ago, a loving sign that the old 
and well-tried members of the body squadron had 
not forgotten their former leader in his present 
misfortune: on my birthday. May 6, a small album 
containing the signatures of the officers and gardes 
du corps of the old squadron found its way to my 
quiet island. — Of the officers and of the gardes du 
corps 1 — How many names are wanting ! East and 
west repose those whose names are not in the album. 
My thoughts wander in both directions to greet the 
brave dead. 

Here, although it belongs to a later period, I 



MATRIMONIAL 65 

would say a word about my appointment to the 
third military weapon — the artillery. To render me 
familiar with it, I was appointed, in the spring of 
1909, to the command of the Leibbatterie of the 
First Field Artillery. I felt particularly happy in 
this excellent regiment — excellent both from a mili- 
tary standpoint and in its comradeship; and I recall 
with sincere gratitude the assistance given me by 
my faithful mentor. Major the Count Hopfgarten, 
and his manifold suggestions in matters relating to 
artillery. 

Even at that time, the mode of employing our 
field artillery and, to some extent, also, our mode 
of firing struck me, in some points, as out-of-date 
when compared with French regulations. About 
five years later, the experiences of the war demon- 
strated that the French army really had gained a 
start of us in the development of this weapon. 
With us the technology of artillery had dropped be- 
hind the equestrology; the horse had obtained too 
many privileges over the cannon. 

As personal adjutant, I asked and obtained the 
services of Captain von der Planitz. This excellent 
and well-trained officer, whom I shall ever grate- 
fully remember as a sincere and noble man and as 
my long-standing and trusted companion and coun- 
sellor, fell as commander of a division in Flanders. 

A report is being circulated by the newspapers 
which purports to come from an eye-witness of the 



66 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

murder of Tsar Nicholas and to reveal, in all its 
horrors, his bloody end. 

This description, whose ghastliness is only en- 
hanced by its cold objectivity, I read this morning. 
Ever since, as the rain outside has continued to 
pour down ceaselessly, my thoughts have reverted 
again and again to this poor man — to him and those 
around him on the two occasions that I came into 
closer contact with him, — first, as his guest in Rus- 
sia and, afterwards, on the one occasion that he was 
our guest in Berlin. 

Now, as I write these lines in recollection of him, 
it is night. 

When I first met Tsar Nicholas at St. Petersburg 
in January, 1903, he was at the height of his power. 
I had been despatched to take part in the Bene- 
diction of the Waters. The court and the troops 
formed an exceptionally brilliant framework to the 
celebration. But the Tsar, himself, who was at 
bottom a simple and homely person and most cor- 
dial and unconstrained in intimate circles, appeared 
irresolute, I might almost say timid, in his public 
capacity. The ravishingly beautiful Empress Alex- 
andra was, in such matters, no support for him, 
since she herself was painfully bashful, indeed al- 
most shy. In complete contrast to her, the Dowager 
Empress, Maria Feodorovna, embodied perfectly the 
conception of majesty and of the grande dame, and 
she exercised also the chief influence in the political 






MATRIMONIAL 67 

and court circles of St. Petersburg. It was par- 
ticularly noticeable how little the Tsar understood 
how to ensure the prestige due to him from the 
members of his family, /. e., from the Grand Dukes 
and Grand Duchesses. When, for instance, the 
company had met previous to a dinner, and the 
Imperial couple entered, scarcely a member of the 
family took any notice of it. An absolutely pro- 
voking laxity was displayed on such occasions by 
the Grand Duke Nicholai Nicholaievitch, who, by 
the way, did not hesitate, in conversation with me, 
to give fairly pointed expression to his dislike of 
everything German. In vain did I look for traces, 
in St. Petersburg, of the old friendship between 
Prussia and Russia; English and French were the 
linguistic mediums; for Germany no one had any 
interest; more often than not I even came across 
open repugnance. Only two men did I meet with 
who manifested any marked liking for Germany, 
namely. Baron Fredericks and Sergei Julivitch 
Witte, who, a few years later, was made a count. 
With Witte I had a long talk upon the question of 
a new Russo-German treaty of commerce, in the 
course of which the politician, with his far-sighted 
views of finance and political economy, maintained 
emphatically that, in his opinion, the healthy devel- 
opment of Russia depended closely upon her pro- 
ceeding economically hand in hand with Germany. 
The fear of assassins was very great at the court. 



68 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

Among the many precautionary and preventive 
measures which I saw taken everywhere, one that I 
met with on paying the Tsar a late evening visit 
made a deep impression upon me. In the vestibule 
of his private apartments, the Emperor's entire 
body-guard of about one hundred men were posted 
like the pieces on a chess-board. It was impossible 
for any one to pass; and my entrance created the 
greatest alarm and excitement. 

Within the inner circle of his family, the Emperor 
was an utterly changed being. He was a happy, 
harmless, amiable man, tenderly attached to his 
wife and children. From the Empress, too, disap- 
peared that nervousness and restlessness which took 
possession of her in public, she became a lovable, 
warm-hearted woman and, surrounded by her young 
and well-bred daughters, she presented a picture of 
grace and beauty. I spent some delightful hours 
there. 

On the second occasion, my wife and I were in- 
vited to Zarskoe Selo. Here I might have imagined 
myself on the country estate of some wealthy pri- 
vate magnate, but that, at every step, the police 
and military precautions reminded me that I was 
the guest of a ruler who did not trust his own peo- 
ple. Zarskoe stands in a great park. Outside the 
palings was drawn up a cordon of cossacks who 
trotted up and down night and day to keep watch. 
Within the park stood innumerable sentinels, while 



MATRIMONIAL 69 

inside the palace one saw everywhere sentinels in 
couples with fixed bayonets. I said to my wife 
at the time that it made you feel as though you 
were in a prison, and that I would rather risk being 
bombed than live permanently such a life as that. 

A distressing motor drive still remains vivid in 
my memory. The Tsar wanted to show us the 
palace on the lake side. We started off in a closed 
carriage. It was the first time, for months, that 
the Emperor had left Zarskoe. The drive lasted 
about four hours. The impression was cheerless 
and deeply depressing. Every place we passed 
through seemed dead; no one was permitted to show 
himself in the streets or at the windows — save, of 
course, soldiers and policemen. Weird silence and 
oppressive anxiety hung over everybody and every- 
thing. To be forced to conceal oneself like that! 
Eh, it was a life not worth living. 

We also took part in a great military review. 
The guards looked brilliant; and, true to their an- 
cient tradition, they later on fought brilliantly in 
the war. An uncommonly picturesque impression 
was made by the bold-looking Don, Ural and Trans- 
baikal cossacks on their small, scrubby horses. 

The reception in the family circle was as hearty 
as on my first visit. For hours we canoed about 
the canals, and discussed exhaustively many a 
political problem. These talks convinced me that 
the Tsar cherished sincere sympathy for Germany, 



70 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

but was too weak to combat effectually the influ- 
ence of the great anti-German party; the Dowager 
Empress and the Grand Duke Nicholai — both pro- 
nounced opponents of Germany — ^possessed the up- 
per hand. 

Tsar Nicholas was not, in my judgment, the per- 
sonality that Russia needed on the throne. He 
lacked resolution and courage and was out of touch 
with his people. As a simple, country gentleman, 
he might perhaps have been happy and have had 
many friends; but he did not possess the qualities 
essential to lead a nation in the development of its 
capacities; possibly, indeed, his timid mind scarcely 
dared to reflect upon the merest shadow of such 
qualities. 

Deeply tragical appeared to us, even at that time, 
the weakly and continually ailing little heir-ap- 
parent, Alexis Nicholaievitch. Though already nine 
years old, he was usually carried about like a little 
wounded creature by a giant of a sailor. With 
anxious and trembling tenderness, the parents clung 
to this fragile offspring of the later years of their 
wedlock who was expected some day to wear the 
Imperial crown of Russia. 

All over! Gone in blood and horror this little 
wearily flickering life. 

After I had completed another two and a half 
years of military service, I felt a lively desire to 
fill in the very considerable gaps in my knowledge 



MATRIMONIAL 71 

of political and economic affairs. Wishes repeatedly 
expressed by me in the matter had hitherto been 
disregarded, which was the more remarkable as, in 
the history of our house, the ruler for the time being 
had always treated the due preparation of the heir- 
apparent for his future career as a particularly ur- 
gent duty of the office conferred upon him. Con- 
sequently, I felt myself ill used in being thus denied 
the opportunity to grasp and fathom subjects whose 
mastery was essential for me. Without exaggera- 
tion, I can say that I had to wrestle tenaciously 
and uncompromisingly for admission to an environ- 
ment in which I might acquire this indispensable 
knowledge. 

It was therefore with all the greater satisfaction 
that, in October, 1907, I welcomed the Kaiser's 
finally consenting to attach me to the bureau of the 
Lord Lieutenant at Potsdam, to the Home Office, 
to the Exchequer and to the Admiralty. I was, 
however, to wait a while before being initiated into 
questions of foreign policy; these were treated as 
a trifle mysterious — and as though they lay within 
the sphere of some occult art. For the present, 
therefore, I was to have the opportunity of attend- 
ing lectures on machine construction and electro- 
technics at the University of Technology in Char- 
lottenburg, where I might acquire a more extensive 
acquaintance with these subjects which had always 
aroused my peculiar interest. 

Thus the obstacles that bad heretofore stood in 



72 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

my way were now removed; doors which had been 
kept religiously closed to me at last opened to my 
hankering for knowledge. 

My self-instructive activities in the various minis- 
tries — which were greatly facilitated by my father's 
orders to supply me with every desired information 
— speedily led to my occupying myself busily with 
the great questions of the day and their international 
interdependence; and thus I soon found myself ab- 
sorbed in the study of the German and the foreign 
press. 

The pulse of our life is the newspaper; in it beats 
the heart of the times; inertness and activity, lassi- 
tude and fever find in it their efficacy and expression 
and, for him who has to care for the well-being of 
the entire organism, they became, under certain 
circumstances, admonishing and warning voices. 
In that year of study which I devoted to the press, 
my first modest gain was that I learned to estimate 
clearly the significance of the newspaper for those 
who are willing to hear, to see and to recognize; — 
yes, for those who will hear, see and recognize, and 
are not blinded to the signs of the times by an os- 
trich-like psychology either imposed upon them or 
voluntarily adopted. 

Of course, I had read the newspapers before, 
in the ordinary acceptation of the term. Mainly, 
I had confined myself to journals of the conserva- 
tive type and colorless, well-disposed news-sheets; 



MATRIMONIAL 73 

though I had, at any rate, read them unmutilated 
by anybody else's scissors. Now, I ploughed my 
way daily through the whole field from the Kreuz- 
zeitung to the Vorwdrts ; and often an article marked 
by me found its way to the proper persons to give 
me the required explanations and enlightenment. 

Consequently, in regard to particular cultural 
and political questions, I soon arrived at a point of 
view which showed me the problems from quite a 
different angle from that adopted by His Majesty 
on the ground of the press cuttings and the reports 
presented to him. The humor of history was gro- 
tesquely inverted: the King was guided ad usum 
delphini, and the Dauphin drew his knowledge out 
of the fulness of life. By reason of this deeper in- 
sight into the driving forces of the masses and of 
the times, many of the fundamental notions kept 
to by the Kaiser in his method of government ap- 
peared to me to have lost their roots and to be no 
longer reconcilable with the spirit of modem mon- 
archy with its wise recognition of recent develop- 
ments and current phenomena. 

Besides the German state organization, there was 
another which, at that time, aroused my special in- 
terest, namely, the British. I had been about a 
good deal in England, and, in many an hour's talk 
on this fascinating subject my uncle. King Edward, 
had lovingly instructed me concerning England's 
political structure, in which I recognized many a 



74 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

feature of value to our younger development. When 
I recall these memorable conversations, in which 
my part was that of a thoroughly unsophisticated 
young disciple of a successful past master and 
fatherly friend, it strikes me that the King wanted 
to bestow upon me something more than a simple 
lesson in the conditions of England; it was rather 
as though this, in his own way highly talented man 
recognized that the ideas which had governed the 
first two decades of my father's reign had been lead- 
ing farther and farther from the lines along which 
the monarchy of Germany ought to develop, if that 
monarchy were to remain the firmly established and 
organic consummation of the state's structure; it 
was as though he clearly and consciously meant to 
call my attention to this danger point, in order to 
warn me and to win me to better ways even at the 
threshold of my political career. 

All that my old great-uncle imparted to me out 
of the fulness of his observation and experience I 
gladly accepted and developed, and doubtless this 
has had its share in forming my views concerning 
the Kaiser's maxims of government and in my feel- 
ing a strong inclination for the constitutional sys- 
tem in operation in England. 

During this period of eager study, I received from 
Admiral von Tirpitz, the head of the Admiralty, 
some particularly deep and stimulating impressions. 
In him I found a really surpassing personality, a 



MATRIMONIAL 75 

man who did not stare rigidly at the narrow field 
of his own tasks and duties, but who saw the effects 
of the whole as they appeared in the distant political 
perspective and who served the whole with all the 
comprehensive capacities of his ample creative 
vigor. 

The great work of producing a German navy had 
been intrusted to him by the Kaiser, and his life, 
his thoughts and his activities were entirely filled 
with the desire and determination to master the 
enormous task for the good of the empire and in 
spite of all external and internal opposition. How 
well he succeeded has been proved by the Battle of 
Jutland which will ever remain for him an honor- 
able witness and memorial — Jutland, where the 
fleet created by him and inspired by his mind passed 
so brilliantly through its baptismal fire in contest 
with the immensely stronger first navy of the world. 
Germany had then every reason to be proud of the 
glorious valor and exemplary discipline of her young 
bluejackets. 

Only in one fundamental question did I, in that 
year of co-operation, differ from the lord high ad- 
miral. He held firmly to the conviction that the 
struggle with England for the freedom of the seas 
must, sooner or later, be fought out. His object was 
the "risk idea," that is to say, he maintained that 
our navy must be made so strong that any possible 
contest with us would appear to the English to be 



76 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

a dangerous experiment because the chances of the 
game would then be too great — chances that could 
not be risked without involving the possibility of 
the English dominion of the seas being entirely lost. 
To the ideal principle underlying this defense the- 
ory I did not shut my eyes; but, considering our 
political and economic position, it seemed to me 
that its form, which presupposed our being the sole 
opposing rival of England at sea, did not permit its 
realization. I was rather of opinion that the "risk 
idea" could only ripen into a healthy, vigorous and 
real balance of power at sea, if the counterpoise to 
England were formed in combination with another 
great power whose land forces for this purpose would 
not come into consideration, but whose navy in 
conjunction with our own would yield a force ade- 
quate to gain the respect and restraint aimed at. In 
this way, if the thing were at all feasible, not only 
could an immense reduction of our naval burden 
be effected, but it would be easier to overcome the 
great danger of the whole problem, namely, the 
smothering of our sea forces before their goal had 
been reached; for, I always frankly maintained and 
asserted that the British would never wait until 
our "risk idea" had materialized, but, consistently 
pursuing their own policy, would destroy our greatly 
suspected navy long before it could develop into an 
equally matched and — in the sense of the "risk 
idea" — dangerous adversary. 



MATRIMONIAL 77 

That, in point of fact, the will to adopt such a 
radical course was not wanting, was further proved 
to me recently on reading Admiral Fisher's book. 
He states the matter with astounding candor in the 
following way: ** Already in the year 1908, I pro- 
posed to the King to Copenhagen the German navy." 

In consequence of our political isolation, all my 
doubts and considerations had to remain doubts 
and considerations. An ally whose navy came into 
consideration as an adjunct to ours we did not pos- 
sess. Nor would an alliance with Russia, such as 
was aimed at by Tirpitz, have given us the help of 
such a navy. 

When the various efforts to bring about an under- 
standing over the naval question had all failed, the 
right moment and the last chance arrived for Eng- 
land to try conclusions with the German navy with 
some likelihood of success. The opportunity of war 
in the year 1914 offered that chance and provided 
also an unexampled slogan: there were binding 
treaties to be kept, and England could likewise ap- 
pear as a spotless hero and the protector of all small 
nations. 

In all this, too, it was naturally not the naval 
problem per se which induced England to seize this 
opportunity of joining in a war against Germany. 
Sea power is world-power; our navy was the pro- 
tecting shield of our world-wide trade; it was not 
the shield, but the values which it covered, at which 



78 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

the blow was aimed, in the not overwillingly waged 
war. The motive forces which urged towards war, 
towards final settlement, across the Channel were 
the same that had previously effected our economic 
isolation; they grew out of England's struggle for 
existence with the vast development of German 
industry and German commerce. Her attem.pted 
strangling of these in pre-war years had failed; 
the German expansion continued. Hence England 
gave up the endeavor to avoid war; the final settle- 
ment must be faced. No one who knew the situa- 
tion could doubt that England would make the 
utmost use of such an excellent opportunity as that 
provided by our treatment of the Austro-Serbian 
dispute. Only lack of political insight on the part 
of our statesmen could overlook all this and hope 
for the neutrality of England as Bethmann HoUweg 
did. 

And when we were once involved in war with 
England and problems of attack were presented to 
our navy in place of the defensive tasks for which it 
had been created, it was a fatal blunder to keep it 
out of the fray, or to deny a free hand in its employ- 
ment to Grand- Admiral von Tirpitz who knew the 
instrument forged by him as no one else could. 
The parties who, at that time, had to decide con- 
cerning the fate of the navy failed to gain that im- 
mortality which lay within their reach. Although 
it lay within arm's length of both von Miiller and 



MATRIMONIAL 79 

of Admiral Pohl neither of these men has succeeded 
in gaining immortality. Everybody clung to Beth- 
mann's notion of carrying the fleet as safe and sound 
as possible through the war in order to use it as a 
factor in possible peace negotiations — ^an idea that 
was scarcely more sensible than, say, the idea of 
carrying the army and its ammunition intact 
through the war with a like purpose. People philo- 
sophized over distant possibilities and missed the 
hour for acting! 

Admiral von Tirpitz was a highly talented and 
strong-willed man, looked up to by the entire navy. 
His sense of responsibility and his resoluteness per- 
sonified, as it were, for them the fighting ideal of his 
weapon, and I am still convinced that he would have 
turned the full force of the fleet against England as 
rapidly as possible. Such an attack, carried out 
with fresh confidence in one's own strength and 
under the conviction of victory, would not have 
failed. That such a view is not in the least fantastic 
and is shared by the enemy is evidenced by a pas- 
sage in Admiral Jellicoe's book, in which he writes: — 

"With my knowledge of the German navy, with 
my appreciation of its performances and with a 
view to the spirit of its officers and its men, it was 
a great surprise to me to see the first weeks and 
months of the war pass by without the German 
navy having conducted any enterprises in the Chan- 
nel or against our coasts. The possibilities of sue- 



80 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

cess of an immediate employment of the German 
forces I should not have underrated." 

But, as Goethe says, enthusiasm is not like her- 
rings; it cannot be pickled and kept for years; and 
the spirit of attack, national consciousness and dis- 
cipline cannot be preserved or bottled. In our 
navy, so proud and powerful at the outbreak of the 
war, these qualities withered and decayed because 
that navy was not allowed to prove its strength, 
and was not used at the right moment. 

Hence, the weapon which failed to strike when it 
ought to have struck finally turned against our 
Fatherland and helped to bring about our defeat. 

I have perused the sheets written yesterday. 
These jottings of mine will not constitute a regular 
and well-arranged book of reminiscences reproducing 
events in their exact order of time. I had intended 
to write of my inauguration into the affairs of the 
Admiralty and of the valuable work in conjunction 
with Admiral von Tirpitz; and, in the ineradicable 
bitterness of my recollections, I sped into the events 
of later years. 

In mentioning the "risk idea" of Tirpitz, I 
touched upon our political isolation. On this sub- 
ject there is, perhaps, much more to be said. 

When, soon after the completion of my labors at 
the Admiralty, I penetrated farther and farther into 
the problems of the foreign policy of the empire, I 
repeatedly found confirmation of the fact that, as I 



MATRIMONIAL 81 

had observed during my travels, our country was 
not much loved anywhere and was indeed frequently 
hated. Apart from our allies on the Danube and 
possibly the Swedes, Spaniards, Turks and Argen- 
tinians, no one really cared for us. Whence came 
this? Undoubtedly, in the first place, from a cer- 
tain envy of our immense economic progress, envy 
of the unceasing growth of the German merchant's 
influence on the world market, envy of the great 
diligence and of the creative intelligence and energy 
of the German people. England, above all, felt her 
peculiar economic position threatened by these cir- 
cumstances. This was naturally no reason for us to 
feel any self-reproach, since every people has a per- 
fect right, by healthy and honorable endeavors, to 
promote its own material well-being and to increase 
its economic sphere of influence. By fair competi- 
tion between one nation and another, humanity as a 
whole attains higher and higher stages of civiliza- 
tion. Only ignorant visionaries can imagine that 
progress in the life of the individual, of a people 
or of the world can be expected if competition be 
barred. 

But it was not alone envy of German efficiency 
that gained for us the aversion of the great majority; 
we had managed by less worthy qualities to make 
ourselves disliked. It is imprudent and tactless for 
individuals or peoples to push themselves forward 
with excessive noisiness in their efforts to get on; dis- 



82 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

trust, opposition, repulsion and enmity are thereby 
provoked. Yet it is into this fault that we Ger- 
mans, both officially and personally, have lapsed 
only too often. The openly provocative and blus- 
tering deportment, the attitude adopted by many 
Germans abroad of continually wishing to teach 
everybody and to act as guardians to the whole 
world ruffled the nerves of other people. In con- 
junction with the stupidity and bad taste of a kin- 
dred character proceeding from leading personages 
and public officials at home and readily heard and 
caught up abroad, this conduct did immense dam- 
age, more especially, again, in the case of England, 
who felt herself particularly menaced by modem 
Germany. 

In many a political chat, that was as good as a 
lesson to me, my great-uncle. King Edward VII — 
with whom I always stood on a good footing and 
who was undoubtedly a remarkable personality en- 
dowed with vast experience, as well as great wisdom 
and practical intelligence — repeatedly expressed his 
anxiety that the economic competition of Germany 
would some day lead to a collision with England. 
"There must be a stop put to it," he would say on 
such occasions. 

Facing all these facts objectively and remember- 
ing that England's forces had always been employed 
against that Continental power which at any given 
moment happened to be the strongest, it followed 



MATRIMONIAL 83 

that, sooner or later, the German Empire would in- 
evitably become involved in a war unless the oppo- 
sition between it and England were removed. 

Personally, I considered it desirable to strive for 
an understanding with England on economic, eco- 
nomico-political and colonial questions. I did not, 
however, entertain any illusions as to the difficulty 
of such an undertaking. I was quite aware that 
any such effort presupposed a thorough discussion 
both of the naval programme and of economic mat- 
ters. The goal appeared to me well worth the sac- 
rifice, for the relaxation of the political tension 
followed ultimately by an alliance with England 
would not merely have secured peace, but would 
have provided us with advantages amply compen- 
sating for the concessions made. Prince Biilow, with 
whom I once talked about this delicate question, re- 
ferred me to a saying of Prince Bismarck's, namely, 
that he was quite willing to love the English, but 
that they refused to be loved. For an alliance with 
England, which, while not involving the sombre 
risk of war with Russia, would have been calculated 
to bind England really and seriously, he seemed at 
that time not at all disinclined. But as, accord- 
ing to him, Lord Salisbury, the British Prime Minis- 
ter in the early years of the century, was not to be 
persuaded to such an alliance, he thought to do 
better, under the circumstances, by adopting a 
"policy of the free hand." Similar answers were 



84 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

given me by all the other leading statesmen of the 
realm to whom I disclosed my ideas: an under- 
standing with England, they said, was impossible; 
England would not have it; or, if a basis were found, 
we should lose by the whole affair. But their rea- 
sons failed to convince me. Why, a glance across 
the black, white and red frontier poles showed that, 
all around us, quite other political feats had been 
performed; but they had been performed by men 
who understood their profession and the signs of the 
times. Nor do I consider that, in the years to 
which I refer here, England was indisposed or could 
not have been won over, even though matters were 
no longer presented to us on a silver tray as they 
had been at the beginning of the Boer War, when 
Joseph Chamberlain quite openly tried to bring 
about an alliance between Germany, England and 
the United States. Even now the possibility of start- 
ing over at the point where we had then failed was 
by no means out of the question. Nevertheless, I 
had to accept the fact that Prince Biilow and his 
politicians were not to be persuaded to a serious, 
well-grounded understanding with England; they 
seemed thoroughly satisfied with the outwardly 
amiable and courteous relations, they considered the 
situation well tried and satisfactory, and saw no 
reason to regard it as so acute or threatening. 

Hence, for the future, I endeavored to think the 
matter over on the rigid lines laid down by Wilhelm- 



MATRIMONIAL 85 

strasse. Assuming it to be impossible to alter the dif- 
ferences with England or to bridge the gap opened 
during the Boer War by the overhasty Kriiger tele- 
gram (the responsibility for which, by the way, has 
been quite unjustifiably charged to the Kaiser), the 
only possible and capable ally left for us in Europe 
was Russia. If we had an alliance with Russia, 
England would never risk a war with us; nay, she 
would have to be satisfied if this alliance did not 
menace her Indian dominions. Consequently every 
effort should be made to re-establish the bond which, 
subsequent to Bismarck's retirement, had been 
broken by denouncing the reinsurance treaty; every- 
thing ought to be done to loosen the Franco-Russian 
Alliance and to draw Russia into co-operation with 
ourselves. This, too, was no easy task ; but there was 
a prospect of succeeding, if we supported Russia's 
wishes in regard to the Dardanelles and the Persian 
Gulf. I talked at the time with Turkish politicians 
about the matter and found them anything but in- 
accessible in regard to the question of a free passage 
through the Dardanelles. Moreover, opposition to 
this solution was scarcely to be feared from our 
allies Austria-Hungary. Here, therefore, I seemed 
to see a suitable starting-point. 

From all these considerations France was excluded 
since, after the weakening of Russia, we had missed 
the opportunity of coming to a complete under- 
standing with the well-intentioned Rouvier Cabinet 



86 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

in the early summer of 1905. In the meantime, by 
skilful cultivation of the idea of revenge against 
Germany, even the bitterness towards England 
caused by the Fashoda affront had been dissipated. 
The conditio sine qua nan for any agreement would 
be the sacrifice of at least a part of the Reichsland, a 
thing which we could not even discuss in times of 
peace. 

But, neither during Billow's chancellorship nor 
Herr von Bethmann's, was any energetic action 
undertaken or well-defined programme adopted by 
the Government to bring about an understanding 
with England or to attach our policy to Russia. 
People clung to the hope of sailing round any pos- 
sible rocks of war; they wished to offend nobody 
and therefore conducted a short-term hand-to-mouth 
policy which had no longer anything in common 
with the clever and wide-spun conceptions of Bis- 
marck tradition. 

As a consequence, very depressing misgivings 
often overcame me when I thought what notions 
our leading statesmen entertained of our political 
position. That they misconstrued the seriousness 
of affairs I refused to believe, for the fact of our 
isolation was sufficient to prove even to the most 
inexperienced observer with any sound common 
sense that, with our peace policy of ''niemand zu 
Liebe und niemand zu Leide" (without considera- 
tion of persons) we were in danger, between two 



MATRIMONIAL 87 

stools, of coming to the ground. Hence I was 
obliged just to recognize the incomprehensible calm 
with which our political leaders guided the realm 
through those times while our opponents' ring 
closed tighter and tighter. 

The game was an unequal one ! 

It was unequal in the parties that faced each other 
as exponents of the two sets of effective forces. 
On this side was His Majesty, who, down to the 
crisis of November, 1908, ruled with great self-con- 
fidence and a perhaps too assiduously manifested 
desire for power; beside him and severely handi- 
capped by all kinds of moods and political sym- 
pathies and antipathies of the Kaiser's, stood Prince 
Billow, whose place was taken the following summer 
by Theobald von Bethmann. 

On the other side was King Edward VII, and be- 
side him and after him half a dozen strong, clear- 
headed men who, misled by no sentiment, worked 
along the lines of a firmly established tradition to 
accomplish the programme mapped out for Eng- 
land and England's weal. 

I repeat it: the game was unequal. 

I do not underestimate the great talents which, 
in the most difficult circumstances, enabled Prince 
Billow, time and again, to bridge over gulfs, to ef- 
fect compromises and adjustments, and to disguise 
fissures. But he was not a great architect; he was 
not a man of Bismarck's mighty mould; he was not 



88 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

a Faust with eyes fixed on the heights and the hori- 
zon ; no, he was none of these, but he was a brilliant 
master of little remedies with which to save oneself 
from an evil to-day for a possibly more bearable to- 
morrow; he was a serious politician who had thor- 
oughly learned his handicraft and exercised it with 
graceful ease; firm in the possession of this, he was 
therefore no charlatan; he was a reader of char- 
acter, too, who knew how to deal with his men — a 
personality. 

Of all post-Bismarckian chancellors. Prince Biilow 
strikes me as, far and away, the most noteworthy; 
indeed, I would place him well outside the frame of 
this very relative compliment that really does not 
say much. He understood perfectly how to defend 
his policy in the Reichstag; and his speeches, with 
their genuine national feeling, scarcely ever missed 
their mark. Moreover, he could negotiate, he 
showed skill and tact in personal intercourse with 
parliamentarians, foreigners and press men; and, 
like no one else since the first chancellor, he gave a 
due place in his calculations to the value of the press 
and of public opinion. I look back with pleasure to 
my conversations with him. What a gaily pliable 
intellect ! What sound sense ! What excellent judg- 
ment of men and of problems ! 

He was also, I consider, the best man at hand 
in the summer of 1917; and I greatly regretted, at 
that time, his not being called to the chief post after 



MATRIMONIAL 89 

Bethmann's exit. His peculiar character would as- 
suredly have understood how to bring about fruit- 
ful co-operation between the Government and the 
Higher Command; I believe, too, that this adroit 
diplomatist would have succeeded in finding a way 
out of the difficulties of the World War, and that he 
would have effected a peace that would have been 
tolerable for our country. 

On each of the two occasions when a fresh chancel- 
lor was to be appointed, I advised His Majesty to 
select either him or Tirpitz, — unfortunately, with- 
out success! The reappointment of Biilow as 
chancellor would not have been prevented by the 
aversion which the Kaiser had conceived during 
the events of November, 1908, if the proper influen- 
tial parties had assiduously supported the choice. 
I was able to ascertain that, on both occasions, the 
necessary precautions had been taken to ensure 
Billow's being passed over by the Kaiser. 

Yonder stood the King. 

I am aware that there is a tendency (not by any 
means confined to the general public) to impute to 
King Edward a personal hatred of Germany — a 
diabolical relish for destruction which found expres- 
sion in forging a noose for the strangling of our 
country. To my mind such a presentation of his 
character is totally lacking in reality. Among 
others, my father has never viewed King Edward 
without all sorts of prejudices, and has conse- 



90 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

quently never formed a just estimate of him. That 
trait — so constantly visible in the Kaiser's actions 
— of readily attributing positive failures to the 
activities of individuals and of regarding them as 
the result of machinations directed against him 
personally may play some part here. But there 
was doubtless always, as a matter of fact, what I 
might call a latent and mutual disapproval present 
in the minds of these two men, notwithstanding all 
their outward cordiality. The Kaiser may have felt 
that his somewhat loud and jingling rather than 
essential manner often sounded in vain upon the ear 
of King Edward with his experience of the world 
and his sense of realities; that it encountered scep- 
ticism; that perhaps it was even received sometimes 
with ironic silence; that it met with a sort of quiet 
obstruction too smoothly polished to present any 
point of attack and thus easily tempted the Kaiser 
to exaggerate it. 

Having myself known King Edward from my 
earliest youth and having had ample opportunity 
of talking with him on past and current affairs al- 
most up to his death, my own conception of his 
character is an utterly different one. I see in him 
the serene world-experienced man and the most 
successful monarch in Europe for many a long day. 
Personally, he was, as far as I can remember, ex- 
tremely friendly to me and, as I have said before, he 
took a most active interest in my development. In 



MATRIMONIAL 91 

the year 1901, just after the passing of the Queen, he 
invested me with the Order of the Garter; the cere- 
mony took place in Osborne Castle, and King Ed- 
ward addressed to me an exceedingly warm-hearted 
and kinsman-like speech; I was then on the threshold 
of my twentieth year, and my great-uncle seemed, 
from what he said, to feel a sort of responsibility for 
my welfare. His sense of family attachment was 
altogether strongly marked; to see him in the circle 
of his Danish relatives at Copenhagen filled the be- 
holder with delight: there, he was only the good 
uncle and the amiable man. 

Often we have sat talking for hours in the most 
unconstrained fashion — ^he leaning back in a great 
easy chair and smoking an enormous cigar. At such 
times, he narrated many interesting things — some- 
times out of his own life. And it is from what he 
imparted to me and from what I saw with my own 
eyes that I have formed my picture of him — a pic- 
true that contains not a single trait of duplicity, 
a picture that reveals him as a brilliant representa- 
tive of his country's interests and one who, I am 
convinced, would rather have secured those inter- 
ests in co-operation with Germany than in spite of 
her, but who, finding the former way barred, turned 
with all his energies to the one thing possible and 
needful, namely, the assurance of that security per se. 

Owing to the great length of his mother's reign, 
Edward VII did not come to the throne till he was 



92 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

a man of very ripe age. As Prince of Wales he had 
abundantly exploited his excessively long period of 
probation. On leaving his parental home with a 
good training and education, he rushed into life 
with an ardent thirst for pleasure and gave himself 
up to his strong passions for women, gambling and 
sport. In this way he passed through all circles 
and all strata of society — ^good, bad and indifferent 
— and nothing human remained alien to him. Just 
as an old and tranquillized mariner talks of the voy- 
ages weathered in years gone by, so did King Ed- 
ward speak to me of those experiences of his which 
had evoked from the public only hard and dispar- 
aging judgments. Yet, for him and for his country, 
those years of restless vagabondage became fruitful. 
His clear, cool and deliberative insight and his prac- 
tical common sense brought him an unerring knowl- 
edge of mankind and taught him the difficult art of 
dealing properly with differing types of humanity. 
I have scarcely ever met any other person who 
understood as he did how to charm the people with 
whom he came in contact. And yet he had no 
vanity, he displayed no visible wish to make any 
impression by his urbanity or his conversation. On 
the contrary, he almost faded into the background; 
the other party seemed to become more important 
than himself. Thus he could listen, interject a 
question, be talked to and arouse in each individual 
the feeling that he, the King, took a most kindly 



MATRIMONIAL 93 

interest in his thoughts and actions — ^that he was 
fascinated and stimulated by him. In this way he 
gained the friendship and attachment of a great 
number of people — ^above all of those who were of 
value to him. 

In his own country, his taste for sport secured 
him an enviable position. He owned a superb 
racing stud, devoted himself with great enthusiasm 
to yachting, and was perhaps the best shot in 
England. Moreover, that partiality for beautiful 
women which he kept even throughout the later 
years of his life became finally a key to the extra- 
ordinary popularity enjoyed by him in England 
and throughout the Continent. In his outward 
appearance and bearing he was the grand seigneur 
and finished man of the world. 

It is thus that I see the King and the qualities 
that served him in carrying out his policy. An ex- 
cellent reader of character and a cool tactician, he 
gained permanent successes wherever he interposed 
his personality. It was his influence that drew 
France into the entente cordiale with England in 
spite of Fashoda; and it was he, personally, who 
attracted the Tsar farther and farther away from 
Germany and won him for England notwithstand- 
ing the great commercial antitheses in the Far East 
and in Persia. 

Why all that ? To destroy Germany ? Certainly 
not! But he and his country had recognized that, 



94 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

for some years, the curve of Germany's commercial, 
economico-political and industrial progress had been 
such that England was in danger of being outstripped. 
Here he had to step in. As an agreement could not 
be effected, commercial isolation became his instru- 
ment for curtailing our development. War with 
Germany the King, I believe, never wanted. I be- 
lieve, too, that not only would he have been able to 
prevent the outbreak of war, but that he would in- 
deed have prevented it. I believe so, because his 
statesmanlike foresight would have recognized both 
the revolutionary dangers and the risk run by the 
great European powers of losing authority and in- 
fluence in world-competition if — ^armed as never 
before — ^they tore and lacerated each other by war 
among themselves. I will go further and assert 
that, with the acknowledged status enjoyed by him 
in Europe and in the world at large. King Edward, 
if he had lived longer, would probably not have 
stopped at the creation of a Triple Entente but would 
perhaps have built a bridge between the Entente and 
the Triple Alliance and thus have brought into being 
the United States of Europe. He, but only he, 
could have done it. 

His epigones have placed the outcome of his 
labors in the service of Russia and France; and there- 
with began the war, long, long before the sword it- 
self was unsheathed. 

In the face of all this and in certain anticipation 



]VIATRIMONIAL 95 

of this final settlement, it became the bounden duty 
of the German Empire to arm itself as thoroughly as 
possible and to demand a similar fighting power 
from Austria, which country, under the influence of 
the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and the men 
selected by him, had become politically very active. 
This was the least we could do to ensure some pros- 
pect of an honorable and bearable settlement. And 
that there was danger in the air was proved not 
merely by the general political complexion; the fe- 
verish and unconcealed warlike preparations of the 
Entente were clearly directed against us and showed 
that they wanted to be ready and then to await the 
right watchword for a rupture. France exhausted 
her man-power and her finances in order to maintain 
a disproportionately large army; Russia, in return 
for French money, placed hundreds of thousands 
of peasants in sombre earth-hued uniforms; Italy 
glared greedily at Turkish Tripoli and built fortress 
after fortress along the frontiers of its deeply hated 
ally, Austria. England watched this activity and 
launched ship after ship. 

In spite of these huge dangers, our own prepara- 
tions were limited to the minimum of the essential; 
and if proofs were required that we did not desire 
the war, it would suffice to point out that it did not 
find us prepared as we ought to have been. So far 
as my very circumscribed capacities and my feeble 
influence went in the years preceding the war, I per- 



96 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

sistently advocated, in view of the menacing situa- 
tion, an augmentation of our military resources. 

Not much was done, however. The last Defense 
Bill of 1913 had to be forced down the throat of the 
Imperial Chancellor von Bethmann Hollweg. The 
re-equipment of the field artillery could not be car- 
ried out before the outbreak of war, with the result 
that the superior French field-guns gave us a deal 
of trouble for a long time. 

I am speaking here of the Bethmann era, and yet 
I would not leave the period of Prince Billow's 
chancellorship without dwelling for a little on one 
of the most perturbing incidents in the life of the 
Kaiser, namely, the conflict of November, 1908. 

In the Reichstag sitting of the tenth — ten years to 
the day before all ended in the journey to Holland 
— the storm began to howl and lasted throughout 
the following day. The causes are known. 

In reality, how did matters stand? 

In the year 1907, while staying with the retired 
General Stuart Wortley at Highcliffe Castle on the 
Isle of Wight, my father had entered into a number 
of informal conversations in which, undeniably, sev- 
eral unintentional and therefore injudicious remarks 
and communications escaped him. With the help 
of the English journalist, Harold Spender, these com- 
munications were afterwards worked up by Wort- 
ley into the form of an interview to be published 



MATRIMONIAL 97 

in the Daily Telegraph. The manuscript was for- 
warded to the Kaiser with a request that he would 
give his consent to its publication. In a perfectly 
loyal way, the Kaiser sent it on to the Imperial 
Chancellor and asked him for his opinion. The pro- 
ceedings were consequently all absolutely correct; 
and nothing improper had occurred, unless the re- 
marks themselves are to be characterized as such; 
and even then, one must give the Kaiser credit for 
having made them with the object of improving 
Anglo-German relations, just as General Stuart 
Wortley, with the like intention, hit upon the idea 
of making them known to wider circles. 

The manuscript was returned to the Kaiser with 
the remark that there was no objection to its being 
published — save that, through negligence and a 
number of unfortunate coincidences, none of the 
gentlemen who were responsible for this judgment 
had actually read the text with any care. And go 
mischief stalked his way. 

For two days the Reichstag raged at the absent 
Kaiser; two groups of representatives of almost 
every party poured out their pent-up floods of in- 
dignation; all the dissatisfaction with his methods 
and his rule that had been accumulating for two 
decades now burst forth in an unimpeded stream. 
And yet the man who was called by my father's 
trust to stand by his Imperial master, to cover him 
and to defend him, — that man failed, that man 



98 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

shrugged his shoulders and shuffled off with a scarce 
concealed gesture of resignation. Nerves, you say? 
Possibly. The only man who, on that occasion, 
chivalrously rushed into the breach in defense of his 
King was the old and splendidly faithful deputy von 
Oldenburg. Considering the general indignation 
that had arisen, the task before which Prince Biilow 
stood was indisputably very difficult; but, on the 
other hand, it is perfectly comprehensible that the 
Kaiser — ^who, in this case, had acted quite correctly, 
and now saw himself suddenly, and for the first 
time, face to face with an almost united opposition 
of the people — was wrenched out of his security and 
confidence and felt that he was deserted and aban- 
doned by the chancellor. 

Meantime, the press storm continued and pro- 
duced day after day a dozen or so of accusatory 
and disapproving articles. 

My father had returned. Prostrated by the ex- 
citing and violent events and still more by the lack 
of understanding he had met with, he lay ill at 
Potsdam. The incomprehensible had happened: 
after twenty years, during which he had imagined 
himself to be the idol of the majority of his people 
and had supposed his rule to be exemplary, disap- 
proval of him and of his character was quite unmis- 
takably pronounced. 

It was under these circumstances that I was ur- 
gently called to the New Palace. At the door, my 



MATRIMONIAL 99 

mother's old valet de chambre awaited me to say that 
Her Majesty wanted to see me before I went to the 
Kaiser. 

I rushed up-stairs. My mother received me im- 
mediately. She was agitated, and her eyes were 
red. She kissed me and held my head before her in 
both hands. Then she said: 

"You know, my boy, what you are here for?" 

"No, mother." 

"Then go to your father. But sound your heart 
before you decide." 

Then I knew what was coming. 

A few minutes later I stood beside my father's 
sick-bed. 

I was shocked at his appearance. Only once 
since have I seen him thus. It was ten years later, 
on the fatal date at Spa, when General Groner 
struck away his last foothold and, with a shrug, 
coldly destroyed his belief in the fidelity of the 
army. 

He seemed aged by years; he had lost hope, and 
felt himself to be deserted by everybody; he was 
broken down by the catastrophe which had snatched 
the ground from beneath his feet; his self-confidence 
and his trust were shattered. 

A deep pity was in me. Scarcely ever have I felt 
myself so near him as in that hour. 

He told me to sit down. He talked urgently, ac- 
cusingly and hurriedly of the incidents; and the bit- 



100 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

terness aroused by the injustice which he saw in 
them kept reasserting itself. 

I tried to soothe and encourage him. 

I stayed with him for quite an hour sitting on his 
bed, a thing which, so long as I can remember, had 
never happened before. 

In the end it was arranged that, for a short time, 
and till he had completely recovered from his ill- 
ness, I should act as a kind of locum tenens for the 
Kaiser. 

In exercising this office I kept entirely in the back- 
ground, and was soon released from the duties alto- 
gether, since, in a few weeks, the Kaiser was seem- 
ingly himself again. 

Seemingly! For, as I have already said, he has 
never really recovered from the blow. Under the 
cloak of his old self-confidence, he assumed an ever- 
increasing reserve, which, though hidden from the 
outside world, was often more restricting than the 
limits of his constitutional position. In the war, 
this personal modesty led to an almost complete ex- 
clusion of his own person from the military and 
organization measures and commands of the chief 
of his General Staff. Those of us officers who had 
an insight into the business of the leading military 
posts could not but regret this fact, as we had un- 
reservedly admired the sound judgment and the 
military perception of the Kaiser even in operations 
on a grand scale. During the war, I had frequent 
occasion to discuss the entire strategic situation 



MATRIMONIAL 101 

with my father, and I generally received the impres- 
sion that he hit the nail on the head. 

July, 1919. 

Bright midsummer days are now passing over the 
island in which I have lived for roughly three-quar- 
ters of a year. 

Three-quarters of a year in which the closely cir- 
cumscribed space and its inhabitants have become 
dear to me; in which the vast silence and the sky 
and the sea, the privacy and the seclusion have 
brought me much that I had never before possessed 
— change and ripening in my own nature, changes in 
my views and judgments on the things that lie be- 
hind, around and before me. It is not inactive 
revery with me, for each day is filled up from morn- 
ing till night with letter-writing, with my reminis- 
cences, diaries, reading, music, sketching and sport. 

I am not unhappy in my loneliness, and I almost 
believe that to be due to all the unstifled desire to 
produce which is still unreleased within me and 
makes me hope in spite of everything — makes me 
hope that the future will somehow open up the pos- 
sibility of my laboring as a German for the German 
Fatherland. 

Anxieties as to the pending extradition wishes of 
the Entente? That is a question constantly re- 
peated in the letters sent by good people at home 
and I can only repeat as often : No, that really will 
not turn my hair gray. 



102 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

I have a longing for home, for my mfe, for my 
children. Often it comes over me suddenly, through 
some accidental word, through a recollection, a 
picture. Recently, as I had just got out my violin 
and was about to play a bit, I couldn't bring my- 
self to do so, the yearning had got such a hold of me. 

And then at night ! The windows are wide open, 
and one can hear the distant plash of the sea and 
often the deep lowing of the cattle in the pastures. 
Heinrich Heine says somewhere: "Denk' ich an 
Deutschland in der Nacht, bin ich um meinen 
Schlaf gebracht." 

In the June days just gone by, came the news 
that the Versailles "Diktat" had been signed. The 
Peace Treaty! The word will scarcely flow from 
my pen, when I think of this chastising rod, this 
birch that blind revenge has bound for us there, 
this closely woven network of chains into which 
our poor Fatherland has been cast. Preposterous 
demands, that even with the very best intentions 
no one can fulfil! Brutal threats of strangulation 
in the event of any failure of strength! Withal, 
unexampled stupidity — a document that perpetuates 
hatred and bitterness, where only liberation from 
the pressure of the past years and new faith in one 
another could unite the peoples into a fresh and 
peacefully reconstructive community. 

There remains only trust in the oft-tried energy 
and capacity of the German himself who, when 
time after time gruesome fate has led him through 



MATRIMONIAL 103 

darkness and the depths, has found the way up to 
the light again; and there remains, too, the great 
truth of all world experience that presumption, in the 
end, goes to pieces of itself. 

Poverty-stricken, Germany and the German 
people go to meet the future. The wicked treaty, 
that rests upon the question of war guilt as upon 
a huge lie, has torn from them colonies, provinces, 
and ships. Workshops are destroyed, intellectual 
achievements stolen, competition in wide spheres of 
activity violently throttled. The treaty prepares 
for Germany the bitterest humiliation; it purposes 
to strangle and destroy her in unappeased hate and 
unabated terror. 

But, in spite of it all, Germany will persist and 
will flourish again; and a time will come when this 
enforced pact will be talked of only as a stigma of a 
bygone day. 

I wish for the homeland tranquillity and internal 
peace in which to get back to its wonted self, in 
which this earthly kingdom — exhausted by unheard- 
of sacrifices and damaged by the blows of fate — ^may 
recover its strength. And I should like to share in 
its new era ! Yet, the only service I can render to 
my country is to stand aside and continue to bear 
this exile. 

The short space of time during which I was in- 
trusted with the representation of the Kaiser gave 



104 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

me a deeper insight than any previous period of 
my life into the mechanism of his technical Govern- 
ment labors, into the manner in which he was kept 
informed by the various officials and into the dis- 
posal of his time. Although, from years of cursory 
observation, I was fairly familiar with the outlines 
of this mechanism, I clearly remember that the 
closer acquaintance I now made with its structure 
filled me with the greatest amazement. That I 
speak of it here with unreserved candor is evidence 
that I do not regard my father as ultimately and 
solely responsible for this state of affairs. If you 
remove the mask of monarchy, the Kaiser is, by 
nature, simple in his character; and if he allowed 
these evils to arise about him, his share in them was 
due partly to the out-of-date upbringing caused by 
an old-fashioned conception of the royal dignity, and 
still more to his innate adaptability to the arrange- 
ments of his environment and to his renunciation 
of that simplicity and directness which might better 
have become his deepest nature. As a consequence, 
there developed, little by little, out of the zeal dis- 
played by those around him for the pettiest affairs, 
a vast ceremonial that robbed the simplest pro- 
ceedings of their naturalness, that removed every 
little stone against which the monarch might have 
struck his foot, and that strove to drown every 
whisper which might have been disagreeable to his 
ear. In the course of decades, this system deprived 



MATRIMONIAL 105 

the Kaiser more and more of his capacity to meet 
hard realities with a firm, resolute and tenacious 
perseverance. 

How can a man, accustomed to expect as a matter 
of course the spreading of a carpet before his feet 
for every step he takes, maintain himself when he 
is suddenly confronted with really serious conflicts 
in which nothing can help him but his own resolu- 
tion? 

Time seemed to be no object in ceremonial affairs; 
yet often none could be found for questions that 
demanded serious and calm consideration. 

Not only for me, but for many a minister and state 
secretary, it was often quite a feat to break through 
the protective ring of zealous gentlemen who wished 
to prevent His Majesty from being "worried" with 
troublesome affairs and to save him from overfa- 
tigue and annoyance. Even when the ring was 
pierced, one had not, by any means, gained one's 
point; I remember many a case in which one or the 
other "Excellency" who had come to report to the 
Kaiser on a certain burning question, returned home- 
ward with an admirable impression of the anima- 
tion, the vigor and the communicativeness of His 
Majesty, and possibly with enriched knowledge con- 
cerning some sphere of research or technology, but 
without having unburdened himself of the burning 
question with which he came. Any one who failed 
to proceed, more or less inconsiderately, with his re- 



106 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

port, might well find himself listening instead to a 
report of the Kaiser's on the subject in hand based 
upon preconceived notions; the would-be adviser 
would then be dismissed without ever having found 
an opportunity of stating his own views. 

I have already hinted that the Imperial Chancery 
prepared for the Kaiser a filtration of public opinion 
in the form of press cuttings. The preparation of 
this material appeared to me to be influenced too 
much by the desire to exclude the disagreeable and 
even the minatory — to be pleasant rather than 
thorough. Many things, therefore, that ought to 
have come under the Kaiser's eyes, even if they were 
not exactly gratifying, were never seen by him. In 
much the same plane lay the consular reports. They 
were often nothing more than amusing chats and 
feuilletons. When these "political reports" passed 
through my hands in 1908, I missed any clear judg- 
ment of the situation, any sharply defined presen- 
tation or positive suggestion. 

A favorable exception among the communications 
sent in by our representatives abroad was to be 
found in the reports of the naval commanders. 
They were evidently drawn up by men whose eyes 
had been trained to look broadly at the world, to see 
things as they really are and to form a just estima- 
tion of the whole; they manifested calm and objec- 
tive criticism and furnished cautious and far-sighted 
suggestions. 



MATRIMONIAL 107 

August, 1919. 

The last few days have brought me again one or 
two welcome visitors from the homeland — above 
all, excellent Major Beck, to whom I am attached 
by so many hard experiences shared in the army. 
Hours and hours were spent in taking long walks 
and sitting together — sometimes talking, sometimes 
silent. And during those hours, the prodigious strug- 
gle of the past came vividly before me again — espe- 
cially the last anguish that followed our failure at 
Rheims, the unceasing decay of energy and con- 
fidence, and then the end. 

A few Dutch families have also been to see me; 
and Ilsemann came over from Amerongen, and had 
much to tell me about my dear mother; she suffers 
severely, is physically ill, but will not give way; she 
knows only one thought, namely, the welfare of my 
father and of us all, and has only one wish, which 
is to lighten for us what we have to bear. 

But the best visit is still to come. My wife and 
the children are to spend a short time with me here 
on the island. How we shall manage with such 
limited room and such a lack of every accommoda- 
tion I don't know myself — ^but we shall do it some- 
how. It was touching to see the ready proffers of 
help that were made on the mere report of my ex- 
pecting my wife and children. Not only on the 
island — where every one now likes me and where 
the Frisian reserve has long given place to hearty 



108 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

participation in my joys and sorrows — but from 
yonder on the mainland also. 

In a day or two, Miildner, my untiring and faith- 
ful companion in this solitude, is to go to Amsterdam 
to do some shopping and other errands. In one of 
the rooms, the wall-paper is to be renewed; all sorts 
of household utensils need supplementing; and 
Amsterdam friends are going to lend me furniture. 
The parsonage is to become more respectable; in 
its present condition, it would really be quite im- 
possible for it to lodge a lady. These capital people 
of mine are working feverishly. 

But to get back to my subject. I stopped at my 
recollections of our foreign policy in the years prior 
to the war. Closely connected with it were our home 
politics. Here, too, we suffered from the same lack 
of resolution, firmness and foresight. People fixed 
their eyes upon the things of to-day instead of on 
those of to-morrow. Hence, o^ly half-measures were 
taken, and everybody was dissatisfied. 

Ever since I began to concern myself with politics, 
I have become more and more convinced that our 
home policy should develop along more liberal lines. 
It was clear to me that one could no longer govern 
on the principles of Frederick the Great — still less 
by outwardly imitating his manner. Just as little 
could I sympathize with the continually yielding 
and generally belated manner in which our liberal 
reforms were carried out. The almost systematic 



MATRIMONIAL 109 

method of first refusing altogether and then finding 
oneself obliged to grant a part of what was de- 
manded appeared to me .doubtful and dangerous. 
A foresighted and properly timed liberal _ policy- 
ought to have been able to reject inordinate wishes 
from whatever quarter they came, and thus to main- 
tain a just balance of forces for the welfare of the 
whole. Such government would also have been able 
to reckon with a certain constancy of parliamentary 
grouping. But after the collapse of the Biilow bloc 
— which certainly, in itself, presented no very great 
attractions — the only policy we had was Bethmann's 
"governing over the heads of the parties," with its 
convulsive formation of majorities from case to 
case and its silencing of the minorities. 

In so far as they could be fitted into the historic- 
ally determined development of the State, the polit- 
ical and economic aims of the social democratic 
party as the representative of a large portion of 
organized labor, ought to have been taken into con- 
sideration unequivocally and without any miscon- 
struction or suffocation of what was possible; though 
the Government had no cause and no right to allow 
themselves to be pushed or driven in every ques- 
tion. 

In its ideological endeavors to entice the social 
democrats away from their policy of negation into 
the sphere of productive co-operation and in its 
misconception of the fact that, for purely tactical 



no MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

reasons, the social democrats of that period would 
not give up their policy of opposition within the 
then existing constitution, Bethmann's Government 
allowed itself to be exploited and weakened by the 
extraordinarily well-managed and well-disciplined 
social democratic party. To the other parties little 
attention was paid. Moreover, the fact was alto- 
gether overlooked that, in their humane and pro- 
gressive spirit, the social legislation in the care for 
workmen in Germany was already a very long way 
ahead of all measures of the kind in other countries 
and that this great work had been ardently pro- 
moted by the Kaiser. As in its attitude towards 
the opposition so in the Polish and Alsace-Lorraine 
questions, the policy of the Government was un- 
certain, being almost invariably harsh where it ought 
to have been yielding and yielding where it ought 
to have been firm. Absolutely nothing was done 
in the way of economic mobilization to meet the 
eventuality of war, although there could be no doubt 
that, if an ultima ratio ensued, England would at 
once endeavor to cut us off from every oversea com- 
munication and that, in respect to foodstuffs and 
raw materials of every kind, we should be thrown 
on our own stocks and resources. 

As in all problems of foreign policy, so again in 
this question, the only man in the Government who 
showed any understanding for my fears and anxie- 
ties was Admiral von Tirpitz. 



MATRIMONIAL 111 

In the eight years' chancellorship of Herr von 
Bethmann HoUweg I over and over again took the 
opportunity of talking to him about the attitude of 
the Government towards foreign and home affairs. 
Here, in one and the same sentence in which I write 
that I always found him to be high-principled in 
thought and action and a man of irreproachable 
honor, I would state that we were not friends, and 
that an impassable chasm lay between his mentality 
and my own. In the post for which we ought to 
have desired the best, the boldest, the most far- 
sighted and the wisest of statesmen, there stood a 
bureaucrat of sluggish and irresolute character, his 
mind in a revery of weary and resigned cosmopoli- 
tanism and tranquil acceptance of immutable 
developments. People liked to call him the "Phi- 
losopher of Hohensinow." I never succeeded in 
discovering a trace of philosophic wisdom in the 
languid nature of this man who dropped so easily 
into tactless fatalism and who qualified even an 
upward flight with the motto of "divinely ordained 
dependency.'* His hesitating heart had no wings, 
his will was joyless, his resolve was lame. 

This man, eternally vacillating in his decisions 
and oppressed by any contact with natures of a 
fresher hue, was certainly not the suitable persona- 
ality, in the years prior to the war, — ^least of all in 
the three that immediately preceded its outbreak — 
to represent German policy against the energetic, 



112 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

resolute, quick-witted and inexorable men whom 
England and France had selected as exponents of 
their power. 

Even in the days when I was attached to the 
various ministries for purposes of study, many peo- 
ple of excellent judgment told me that it was easy 
to discuss questions with Bethmann, but the disap- 
pointing thing about it was that one never reached 
any conclusive result; for, whatever the seemingly 
final outcome might be, he had, after musing for a 
while, one more sentence to utter, and that sentence 
began with the word ''nevertheless." This word 
"nevertheless" stands for me like a motto above 
Herr von Bethmann Hollweg's political career. 

On one single occasion I allowed myself to be 
swept into a marked demonstration against him be- 
fore the whole world, and I readily admit that this 
public utterance of my opinion would have been 
better left unmanifested. It will be remembered 
that, in the Reichstag sitting of November 9, 1911, 
I gave clear expression to my approval of the speeches 
hurled against Herr von Bethmann's and Kiderlen- 
Wachter's, at first galling and afterwards retracting, 
policy in the Morocco affair, which had brought us 
a severe diplomatic check. At the time, the press 
of the left hastened to stigmatize me as a batter- 
ing-ram of extravagant and bellicose pan-German 
ideas. Nothing of the kind! The case was quite 
different! The drastic methods of Kiderlen, the 



MATRIMONIAL 113 

wanton provocation implied by the despatch of the 
** Panther" to Agadir was just as disagreeable to me 
as the hasty retreat which followed Lloyd George's 
threats in his Mansion House speech: both bore evi- 
dence of the groping uncertainty of our leadership, a 
leadership which failed to see how sadly the first 
step affected the mentality of the other side and 
how much the second impaired our prestige in the 
eyes of the world. Thus, it was from the feeling 
that political tension had risen to fever-heat that, 
on that 9th of November, 1911, I spontaneously ap- 
plauded those speeches which were directed against 
the feeble and oscillating policy of the Govern- 
ment. 

What a curious part coincidence plays in our 
affairs! Once again the 9th of November stands 
marked in the book of my remembrances — ^three 
years after the great Reichstag storm concerning the 
Kaiser interview of the Daily Telegraph and seven 
years to the day before the last act of the collapse 
in Berlin and Spa! A discussion of the incident 
soon followed — on the same evening, as a matter 
of fact. 

To begin with, the Kaiser admonished me. All 
right. 

Then I gave vent to my thoughts and feelings; 
and I blurted out all my fears for the future, my 
wishes for the suppression of a shilly-shally policy. 
I spoke without the slightest reserve; — and once 



114 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

more I was forced to note the fact that the Kaiser 
could not listen. 

In the end we dined together in a not particularly 
talkative mood. 

Then, at His Majesty's request and in his pres- 
ence, Bethmann, who, withal, was once again highly 
interesting and to the point, gave me, the "fron- 
deur," a long lecture which failed to convince me. 

Politics, even high politics, are not an occult sci- 
ence. The times are dead and gone in which they 
could be conducted with Mettemichian ruses. They 
can nowadays dispense with apergus of speech and 
with the jabot of the Viennese Congress just as well 
as with the monocle of a later epoch of development. 
But they presuppose, besides all the obvious and 
the leamable, a few such things as practical com- 
mon sense to reduce all their problems to the sim- 
plest formulae, knowledge of human character and 
an eye for the general mentality of the peoples with 
whom one has to reckon. 

Herr von Bethmann Hollweg — ^who, by the way, 
knew scarcely anything of foreign countries — ^pos- 
sessed none of these things; and neither Kiderlen- 
Wachter nor Secretary of State Jagow was the man 
to fill the gap with his intellectual talents. 

True, there were, in our diplomacy, men of quite 
another category, who thought broadly and saw 
clearly; but people were content to know that they 
filled posts abroad where their voices could be heard 



MATRIMONIAL 115 

but where their influence upon the conduct of for- 
eign politics was bound to remain very slight. I 
entertain not the least doubt that such men as 
Wangenheim and Marschall — even Mont and Met- 
temich — ^would have understood how to give a 
timely turn to our foreign policy so as to conduct it 
into the proper and the constant way. 

Just this very Herr von Kiderlen used to be 
praised by Bethmann as the great political light 
from the East. Personally, too, I myself liked this 
agreeably natural and courageous Swabian, despite 
his panther-like leap into the china-shop of Agadir. 
But his special suitability for the highly important 
post of foreign secretary did not strike me, the 
more so as he entirely lacked the most important 
quality for such a position, namely, the capacity to 
see things from the point of view of others. He 
not only utterly failed to consider the mentality of 
France and England, but he did not even appreciate 
the political tendencies of Roumania, the country in 
which, for ten years, he had charge of Gennany's 
interests. 

That sounds almost like a bad joke, and it is, 
after all, only an example of what a poor reader of 
character the chancellor himself was and how lim- 
ited was the horizon of his staff at the Foreign Office. 

But it is incumbent upon me to furnish evidence 
for my views as to Herr von Kiderlen's knowledge 
of Roumania. On returning from my Roumanian 



116 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

travels in April, 1909, 1 told my father I had received 
the impression that there was only one person in 
Roumania who was friendly to us, namely, King 
Carol himself. The leading political circles, who 
were only waiting for the decease of the aged King, 
were thoroughly and firmly under French and Rus- 
sian influence. The sympathies of the Crown Prin- 
cess were directed towards England, and the Crown 
Prince was very much under her influence. Conse- 
quently, I could not help thinking that, in the event 
of war, Roumania would fail her allies, even if she 
did not go over to the other party altogether. His 
Majesty sent me to the secretary for foreign affairs 
in Wilhelmstrasse to report my impressions. Herr 
von Kiderlen-Wachter listened with complaisant 
superiority and smiled. He thought I must be mis- 
taken; believed I must have had a bad dream; the 
whole of Roumania, with which he was as familiar 
as with his own hat ("wie sei' Weste' tasch' ") was, 
to the backbone, our sterling ally. ''Sozusage' miin- 
delsicher!" Soon afterwards, we had to experience 
the trend of events which followed upon King Carol's 
death. 

But, after all, what is the false estimate of Rou- 
mania in comparison with the erroneous conception 
formed by Herr von Bethmann Hollweg and his 
Excellency von Jagow concerning the attitude of 
England? They remained hoodwinked in the mat- 
ter until, in August, 1914, Sir Edward Goschen tore 



MATRIMONIAL 117 

the bandage from the chancellor's dismayed and 
horror-struck eyes. 

Because — be it said to his credit — he had repeat- 
edly made mild and inadequate attempts at a rap- 
prochement with England without encountering any 
notable opposition, and because he knew that Eng- 
land had repeatedly stated in Paris that she de- 
sired to avoid a provocative policy and did not wish 
to participate in a war called forth by France, 
Bethmann imagined that the rapprochement had 
thriven to such an extent as to preclude England's 
joining in war against us at all. But the last effort 
made in the year 1912 by inviting Lord Haldane, the 
minister of war, to come to Berlin, had also been 
a failure. It had failed because, meantime, the re- 
lations of England to France and thereby to Russia 
had become too intimate; so that even the great 
sacrifice which Admiral von Tirpitz declared himself 
prepared to make in the question of the Navy Bill 
in exchange for a British neutrality clause was in- 
effective. England was determined to maintain her 
"two keels for one" standard under all circum- 
stances. Sir Edward Grey declined to enter into 
any engagement on account of "existing friendship 
for other powers"; and therewith matters became 
clear to any one who had eyes to see. 

Nor did Haldane make any secret of England's 
attitude in the event of war with France and Rus- 
sia; as the Kaiser told me himself later, Haldane 



118 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

informed our ambassador, Prince Lichnowsky, in a 
visit concerning political questions, that under the 
suppositions stated and irrespective of what party 
might set the ball rolling, his Government could not 
agree to a defeat of France by us and a consequent 
domination of Germany on the Continent. They 
would intervene in favor of the powers allied with 
England. 

That, in spite of this fact, the gentlemen at the 
Foreign Office and above all the minister responsible 
for our foreign policy continued to live on calmly 
and self-complaisantly in their world of dreams dur- 
ing those perilous and menacing times one finds it 
difficult to understand. The ears of our politicians 
had caught up the voices from Paris in which they 
heard England's desire for peace and they allowed 
themselves to be misled by the alluring idea that 
England would maintain peace in Europe in any 
circumstances; they assumed that the serious, warn- 
ing words spoken by Lord Haldane in London were 
intended solely to prevent a breach of peace on the 
part of Germany. 

I have again run off the track of my story; it 
seems that I cannot even make a chronicle of the 
affairs. But I must try to take up the thread 
again. 

Down to the year 1909, I had visited, sometimes 
alone and sometimes in my father's suite, England, 



MATRIMONIAL 119 

Holland, Italy, Egypt, Greece, Turkey and a few 
districts of Asia Minor. My stay in these countries 
had always been relatively short, but had sufficed to 
provide me with valuable opportunities of com- 
parison and to convince me of the necessity for see- 
ing more of the world. 

It was, therefore, a great satisfaction to my de- 
sire for further knowledge when, in 1909, my father 
consented to my undertaking an extensive tour in 
the Far East. My wife accompanied me as far as 
Ceylon and then went to Egypt; while I proceeded 
to travel through India. The British Government 
had prepared for my journey in the most friendly 
way; so that I really obtained a great deal of in- 
formation. In every detail and everywhere I went, 
I met with the greatest hospitality. I recall with 
special pleasure Lord Hardinge, Sir Harold Stuart, 
Sir John Havitt and Sir Roos-Keppel. The Ma- 
harajah of Dschaipur and the Nisam of Hyderabad 
also provided me with a splendid reception. 

In India my love of hunting and sport found all 
that my heart could desire. The magnificence of 
Indian landscape and of Indian architecture opened 
up a new world to me. The profusion of experiences 
of all kinds presented to me I welcomed with all the 
susceptibility and power of enjoyment of my youth; 
I wished to devote myself unrestrictedly to all that 
was great and novel, and I sometimes forgot, per- 
haps, that people expected to find in me the son 



120 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

of the German Emperor and the great-grandson 
of the Queen. 

Of all the impressions I received the greatest and 
most lasting was that made upon me by the organ- 
izing and administrative talent of the English. It 
struck me, too, as a noticeable peculiarity, that, in 
the various branches of administration, compara- 
tively very young officials were employed, but that 
they were energetic and were invested with great 
independence and responsibility. Extensive and 
healthy decentralization prevailed generally. Every- 
where I was impressed by the vast power of Eng- 
land, whose magnitude was, before the war, fre- 
quently and considerably undervalued in Germany 
intoxicated as she was with her own rapid rise. 

But it became just as clear to me how enormous 
was the competition which Germany created for the 
British in the emporiums of the Far East. Thus, 
many an English merchant told me, in confidential 
talk, that it could not go as it was — England could 
not and would not allow herself to be pushed to the 
wall by us. I myself, during the sea voyage, no- 
ticed that we met about as many German merchant 
vessels as British ones. Moreover, the muttered 
curse, "Those damned Germans!" occasionally 
reached my ear. 

Omens of a gathering storm ! 

When, later on, I talked of these observations to 
the responsible parties at home, the warning was 



MATRIMONIAL 121 

treated very light-heartedly. That some English 
shopkeeper or another swore when we spoiled his 
business for him didn't matter in the least; the man 
should give up his "week-end" and work the way 
our people did, then he would have no need to 
swear. Besides we really wanted to live in peace 
with those gentlemen. "And Your Imperial High- 
ness has seen for yourself how you were received 
there." Thus, there was not much to be done. I, 
for my part, knew that the "shopkeeper" was Eng- 
land herself, that no one over there was willing to 
sacrifice his week-end and that my reception was an 
act of international courtesy and nothing more. 
The will to live at peace with others has only a sig- 
nificance if one knows and adopts the means by 
which that peace may be realized. 

After my return and in pursuance of His Ma- 
jesty's commands, I visited with my wife the courts 
of Rome, Vienna, St. Petersburg and St. James — 
the last on the occasion of the coronation. 

Everywhere we met with the most friendly per- 
sonal reception; but everywhere, too, appeared 
warning signs of the conflict and danger which were 
gathering ominously around the realm. 

The journey to England we performed on board 
the new and heavily armored cruiser "Von der 
Tann." This excellently constructed vessel aroused 
the utmost excitement in England. During the 
great naval review in the Solent, it was interesting 



122 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

to observe the British marine officers and sailors 
devoting the greatest attention to our **Von der 
Tann.** For the war vessels of other nations they 
displayed not the slightest interest. Their judgment 
culminated in unbounded praise of the wonderful 
lines of the ship and of the practical distribution of 
the guns. 

During the coronation festivities in London, the 
reception accorded me and my wife by all classes 
of the population was exceptionally cordial. The 
English press also welcomed us warmly; and during 
those days we noticed nothing of the hatred of Ger- 
many. But if an eloquent illustration were needed 
of how misleading it is to draw conclusions from the 
signs of sympathy shown towards Princes and heirs- 
apparent, such an illustration is to be found in an 
experience of our own. It has hung a signum vani- 
talis in my memory. 

As King George and Queen Mary at the close of 
the coronation ceremony left Westminster Abbey, 
spontaneous cheers rose from the assembly. Imme- 
diately afterwards, the foreign Princes moved down 
the gigantic church, and, as the Crown Princess and 
I reached the middle of the nave, the same spon- 
taneous cheers that had greeted the King and 
Queen were accorded us. Afterwards I was told 
by English people that I might be "proud of my- 
self"; for never before in the history of England 
had a foreign princely couple received such an ova- 



MATRIMONIAL 123 

tion in Westminster Abbey. Four years later we 
were at war; four years later, the man whom they 
then cheered had become a "hun." 

Here I should like to mention an incident in my 
London sojourn which casts a light on the ideas of 
a leading English statesman of that day. The for- 
eign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, was introduced 
to me, and, in the course of the thoroughly animated 
conversation which ensued, I made the incautious 
remark, that, in my opinion and with a view to the 
certainty of peace, it would be far and away the 
wisest thing for Germany and England, the two 
greatest Teutonic nations — ^the strongest land power 
and the strongest sea power — to co-operate; they 
could then moreover (if need be) divide the world 
between them. Grey listened, nodded and said: 
"Yes, true, but England does not wish to divide 
with anybody — ^not even with Germany." 

In Vienna, the then heir-apparent, Francis Ferdi- 
nand, spoke with me very earnestly and very anx- 
iously about the dangerous Serbian propaganda; he 
foresaw an early European conflict in these intrigues 
that Russia was fanning. I had, for a long time, 
been watching with discomfort the growing depen- 
dence of our Near East policy upon the ideas of 
the Vienna Ballplatz; consequently the remarks of 
the Archduke raised in my mind grave doubts 
as to this shifting of our political focus from Ber- 
lin to Vienna; these doubts continued to worry 



124 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

me from that day onward, but the unreserved ex- 
pression I gave to them, both in the Foreign Office 
and in the presence of individual representatives of 
our diplomatic service, was all in vain. The fears 
that the Reich would some day become fatally de- 
pendent upon the superior diplomacy of Austria- 
Hungary, as expressed with such anxious prescience 
by Prince Bismarck in his last memoirs, seemed to 
me to have long ago found their fulfilment. In the 
Vienna Belvedere, under the influence of the 
strangely suggestive words of this dangerously am- 
bitious Archduke, — who was prepared to act an any- 
thing but modest part and who was as clever as he 
was ruthless, — ^the definite feeling came over me that, 
as a result of this too great dependence, we should 
sooner or later become involved in a conflict brought 
about for the purpose of promoting the ambitions of 
the Austro-Hungarian dynasty; that the Archduke 
was putting out feelers and developing ideas which 
should enable him to see what he might expect from 
me. Destiny took the game out of the hands of 
that undoubtedly remarkable man and made of him 
the spark which was to kindle the great conflagra- 
tion. But, after bringing him to a bloody end, it 
spared us none of the bitter effects of our depen- 
dence and subordination; the results of the excessive 
Viennese demands upon Serbia involved us in the 
war against our will. On July 28, 1914, when Ser- 
bia had accepted almost all the points of the Aus- 



MATRIMONIAL 125 

trian ultimatum, my father annotated thus the 
telegram which brought the news of Serbia's sub- 
mission: — **A brilliant performance within a limit of 
48 hours. That is more than one could expect. A 
great moral success for Vienna; but with it disap- 
pears every reason for war, and the Austrian minis- 
ter, Giesl, ought to have remained quietly in Bel- 
grade. After that, I should never have ordered the 
mobilization." I quote this telegram and its mar- 
ginal notes, because they prove irrefutably the 
peaceful desires of Germany and the Kaiser. They 
prove the good-will, in spite of which our destiny — 
bound to the policy of the Vienna Ballplatz to the 
extent of vassalage — strode its way. 

In Russia, where, as already stated, I sojourned 
with my wife after my Indian travels, I received 
the impression that the Tsar was as friendly to Ger- 
many as ever, but that he was less able to put his 
friendliness into action. He was completely en- 
meshed by the pan-Slav and anti-German party of 
the Grand Duke Nicholai Nicholaievitch and power- 
less to oppose that Prince, who made a public ex- 
hibition of his hatred for Germany. 



CHAPTER IV 
STRESS AND STORM 

September, 1919. 

The beautiful, happy days are past which I was 
able to spend here with my dear wife and the boys, 
the days in which we all wanted to enjoy the brief 
pleasure like simple, rustic holiday-makers and in 
which I purposely tried to forget that my nearest 
and dearest were staying for only a short sojourn 
with a voluntary exile. 

By nature and upbringing I am not sentimental, 
and I will not lose myself in sentimental emotions; 
but I can honestly say that the island is more deso- 
late than ever, now that I have to go my walks be- 
tween the pastures, along the irrigation canals, up 
the shore and through the villages without my wife 
and without the boys. In their childish way, the 
little chaps found everything that was strange and 
new to them here incomparably delightful, thought 
it all a thousand times finer than the best that they 
had in our own Cicilienhof at Potsdam or at 01s. 
Everywhere I now miss those boys, miss the inquir- 
ing remarks of those youngest ones who really made 
their first acquaintance with their father here on 
the island, miss continually the kind, wise and under- 
standing words of the wife who has so many sorrows 

126 



STRESS AND STORM 127 

and worries of her own to bear and who yet never 
loses courage. Over there, at Hippolytushof, we 
stowed the little fellows in the house of the ever- 
ready Burgomaster Peereboom — for we had no 
room for them in my parsonage — and there they 
were soon the friends and confidants of all the lads 
anywhere near their own age. In our Oosterland 
cottage, quarters were found only for my wife and 
her companion. Everything now seems empty, 
since it is no longer filled with her fun at the primi- 
tive glories and makeshifts of our "bachelor's house- 
hold." 

On her way home she stayed at Amerongen. 

It is depressing to read what she writes about 
things there. Our dear mother suffering, and yet 
unwearily troubling about the Kaiser, about my 
brothers, my little sister and her grandchildren; my 
father bitter and not yet able to release himself from 
the ever-revolving circle of brooding about the things 
that have been. 

It is a very different question whether the will 
and vital courage of a man of thirty-six years are 
to withstand the test of such a terrible strain of 
destiny, or whether a man of sixty is able to see 
shattered before him his life's work that he had re- 
garded as imperishable. 

In the last few days, my thoughts have reverted 
to him over and over again. 



128 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

At the time that I was about to start on my In- 
dian tour, my military career had reached the point 
where I was to receive the command of a cavalry 
regiment. It was a matter of great moment to me; 
and, with a view to the political situation, I did not 
wish to be too far away from the centre of govern- 
ment, from those men who had to cook the broth in 
the serving out of which I was at the time so inter- 
ested. 

In this matter of the army I could not approach 
the Kaiser directly. My appointed intermediary 
was the chef du cabinet militaire, General von 
Lyncker. I discussed the affair with him and asked 
for the Gardes du Corps. Herr von Lyncker, who 
treated my request quite impartially and without 
any prepossession, entertained great doubts; he told 
me that His Majesty would almost certainly not 
consent; rather than raise this "problem" again, 
they would prefer to drop my suggestion. From 
the trend of the conversation, moreover, it was ob- 
servable that the inner circle of His Majesty's ad- 
visers and certain Government officers did not pas- 
sionately share my wish that I should remain near 
the centre of government. 

I therefore asked for the King's Uhlans in Han- 
over or the Breslau Body Cuirassiers; and Herr von 
Lyncker said that would not create any difficulty, 
and he would advise His Majesty accordingly. I 
was content; after all, Hanover and Breslau did not 



STRESS AND STORM 129 

lie quite outside the world and one might keep 
fairly in touch with things from either place. 

Such was the situation when I left for India. 
But at Peshawar I read in an English newspaper 
that His Majesty had appointed me to the com- 
mand of his First Body Hussars at Langfuhr by 
Danzig. 

My prime feeling was one of disappointment, not 
only because my wishes had been once more totally 
pushed aside, but because it seemed to be a sort of 
principle to refuse the fulfilment of the wishes of us 
sons in military matters. Nor was this all. The 
remote position of Danzig and the bleak climate, 
which I feared especially on my wife's account, were 
not particularly alluring. Contrary to my expecta- 
tions, everything turned out capitally, and, but for 
my worries about the general situation of affairs, the 
two years and a half spent in Danzig became the 
happiest time of my life. 

We lived in a small villa which scarcely afforded 
sufficient room for my already considerable family. 
But we made ourselves very comfortable and led a 
happy and peaceful life. 

It was an honor and a pleasure to be the com- 
mander of that fine old regiment. The officers 
were all young, — a companionable medley of nobles 
and commoners. The serious and faithful character 
of my old regimental adjutant, Count Dolina, I 
recall with particular pleasure. Most of the officers 



130 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

were the sons of landed proprietors in East and 
West Prussia whose fathers and grandfathers had 
worn the Black Attila and the Death's Head of the 
Body Hussars. Similarly, the regiment recruited its 
non-commissioned officers and men almost exclu- 
sively from among the young country people of East 
Prussia, West Prussia and Posen, tip-top soldiers 
who brought with them from their homes a love of 
horses and an understanding for their management. 
Finally, the horses themselves were excellent; and 
we were the only white-horse regiment in the army. 

The love of riding which had been in me from 
childhood could now have full away. In accor- 
dance with the convictions gained by experience, I 
limited the course-riding to the minimum, and laid 
chief stress upon cross-country and hurdle riding, 
in which really first-class results were obtained. 
Great emphasis was placed upon foot-practice and 
firing, more perhaps than was then customary with 
confirmed cavalrymen. The war showed that this 
training is, even for cavalry, a thing that should not 
be neglected. 

I did my best to maintain a liking for the ser- 
vice among my Hussars. I had a nice commodi- 
ous Casino installed for the use of the non-commis- 
sioned officers, as well as comfortable quarters for 
the men. The men who had been in the ranks for 
a year or more were lodged separately from the re- 
cruits to prevent possible difficulties. In the leisure 



STRESS AND STORM 131 

hours there were plenty of outdoor games. Towards 
the end of my time, we had a well-trained football 
team in which the officers participated. 

It was during this period of my life that " Deutsch- 
land in Waff en" was published, a picture-book for 
young Germans. The preface which I wrote for it 
has been unjustly taken to indicate that I had 
ranged myself among the war firebrands. Nothing 
was ever further from my thoughts; nor can an im- 
partial perusal of my paragraphs discover such a 
meaning in them. The preface was written in con- 
sequence of the increasing dangers that threatened 
us; it was directed against sordid materialism and 
pointed out to the youth of Germany that it was 
their duty and honor to fight, if necessary, for their 
country. It was the admonition of a German and a 
soldier to the rising generation of Germans whose 
young energies and whose patriotic spirit of self- 
sacrifice we could not dispense with in the hour of 
need. 

Since my demonstration against Bethmann HoU- 
weg's Morocco policy, I was labelled as a war inciter 
by every blind pacifist in Germany and by their 
friends abroad whenever I came before the public. 
So it was in the case of this little dissertation on our 
army: people sought in it evidence of the tendencies 
unjustly ascribed to me. Similarly they imagined 
themselves to have pinned me tight when, a short 
time afterwards, I came forward in another public 



132 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

affair, namely, the Zabem incident which obtained 
such unfortunate notoriety. 

Our policy in the Reichslanden (Alsace-Lorraine) 
had, for years, caused me great anxiety. My visits 
to these provinces, as well as the reports of many of 
my comrades in the garrisons of the west frontier 
and the honest descriptions given me of conditions 
there by those familiar with them, had opened my 
eyes to the realities of the situation. Sugar-plums 
and the whip had prevailed ever since 1871. The 
results corresponded to the tactics. The last period 
had been one of sugar-plums, and the reichsldndische 
constitution had been its consummation. French 
propaganda now had its own way and did what- 
ever it pleased. The pro-French notables set the 
fashion and called the tune for the civil administra- 
tion. The military were, in a sense, merely tol- 
erated by the irredentist circles. Just one example 
to illustrate the pre-war conditions in the German 
Reichslanden and the attitude of the governmental 
authorities. Two of my flying officers told me one 
day that, in the year 1913, a great French presenta- 
tion of the colors took place, and they — the military 
— ^were advised not to show themselves in the streets 
on that day lest the sight of their Prussian uniform 
might irritate the French. Under such conditions it 
was that the conflict arose. The civil population 
had heckled the Prussian military, the officer had 
defended himself, and then the whole world sud- 



STRESS AND STORM 133 

denly howled at Prussian militarism. At this mo- 
ment, at a time when foreign countries and the 
never-lacking sophist advocates of absolute justice 
in our own poor Germany were doing everything 
to discredit our last and only asset, our army, in the 
eyes of friend and foe, I readily and "without the 
proper reserve," as it was said, took my stand by 
my comrades who were so hard pressed by the at- 
tacks of public discussion. I wired to General von 
Deimling and to Colonel von Renter. That is all 
true. But that I sent the colonel a telegram con- 
taining the words "Immer feste druff" I learned 
from the newspapers, and this invention was due to 
the falsifying fantasy of those peace-lovers who 
sought perhaps to strengthen the great hankerings 
for peace all around us. In truth I had telegraphed 
to Colonel von Renter as a comrade that he should 
take severe measures, since the prestige of the army 
was at stake. If Lieutenant von Forstner had been 
condemned, every hooligan would have felt encour- 
aged to attack the uniform. An untenable situation 
would have been sanctioned, doubly untenable in 
the Reichslanden, where, in consequence of the lax 
attitude of the civil authorities, the military already 
found themselves in the most difficult circum- 
stances. I should like to have seen what would 
have happened in England or France, if an officer 
had been provoked as Lieutenant von Forstner was. 
But we were in Germany. German public opinion 



134 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

had once more a pretext for busying itself with me 
in conjunction with the events described; the old 
talk about a camarilla, about the war firebrand and 
the frondeur of Langfuhr were dished up again in the 
leading articles of the scribblers. If they were to be 
believed, I had once again made myself "impossi- 
ble." The highest dignitaries wore the doubtful 
faces prescribed for such occasions of national mourn- 
ing, and His Majesty was highly displeased. 

Schiller says in "William Tell": "The waters rage 
and clamour for their victims"; and another passage 
runs: "'Twas blessing in disguise; it raised me up- 
wards." 

Out of the blue and with great suddenness every- 
thing happened. His Majesty took my regiment 
from me and ordered me to Berlin, so that my over- 
grown independence might be curtailed and my do- 
ings better watched. I was to work in the General 
Staff. 

In this way a ring was completed: the wish not to 
have me too near the central authorities had sent 
me to Langfuhr by Danzig; the wish to have me 
within reach brought me back again; in both cases, 
a little indignation and a little annoyance played 
their part. 

At any rate, among the incorrigible pacifists who 
wished to disperse with pretty speeches the war 
menace already hanging above the horizon, indigna- 
tion was aroused by my farewell words to my Hus- 



STRESS AND STORM 135 

sars. I had called it a moment of the greatest hap- 
piness to the soldier, "when the King called and 
March ! March ! was sounded." According to them 
I ought doubtless to have told my brave comrades 
some beautiful fairy-tale. 

When I rode for the last time down the front of 
my fine regiment and the farewell shouts of my 
Hussars rang in my ears, my heart became unspeak- 
ably heavy. It was as though a still, small voice 
whispered that this was the farewell to a peaceful 
soldier's life which I was never again to know. 
What I was now to leave had all been so beautiful, 
so happy and so replete with honest labor. 

In foreign soil, sleeping their eternal sleep, now 
rest many — ^too, too many — of the bright and capa- 
ble young comrades of my beloved and courageous 
regiment of Hussars whose uniform I wore through- 
out the war with joyous pride. Among them lies 
my cousin. Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia, a 
particularly undaunted rider and soldier. My recol- 
lections will be with them all in grateful sadness as 
long as I live. 

Perhaps I ought to have torn up the sheets I 
wrote yesterday and to have rewritten them in a 
different style. When I read them through to-day, 
I found in them a note of irritability that I would 
rather not introduce into my memoirs. But I shall 
let them remain as they are; they bear witness to 



136 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

the bitterness which still possesses me when I recall 
that last year before the war and the absurdity of 
our "ostrich" policy. What a sorry humor comes 
over me when I remember how they dubbed me the 
instigator to a "fresh, free, rollicking war" because 
of my warning: "Then preserve at least your last 
for the grave day and keep yourselves armed for the 
struggle that is surely coming!" 

The truth is that I was clearly conscious of the 
terrible seriousness of our position, that I neither 
was nor am a Cassandra, filling the halls of Troy 
with verses of lament, but a man and a soldier. 
Yet people in our beloved homeland took it very ill 
that I was the latter, and they do so still. 

For the winter 1913-14 I was ordered to the 
Great General Staff for purposes of initiation 
and study. My instructor was Lieutenant-General 
Schmidt von Knobelsdorf, who became afterwards 
my chief of general staff in the Upper Command of 
the Fifth Army. In matters of military science I 
owe much to His Excellency von Knobelsdorf. He 
was a brilliant teacher in every domain of tactics 
and strategy. His lectures and the themes he set 
for me were masterpieces. His chief maxim was: 
clearness of decision on the part of the leader; trans- 
lation of the decision into commands; leave your 
subordinates the widest scope of personal responsi- 
bility. 

My appointment to the General Staff gave me an 



STRESS AND STORM 137 

exhaustive insight into the enormous amount of 
work it performed. I was able to penetrate into the 
superb organization of the whole, to become ac- 
quainted with the maintenance, the re-enforcement 
and the movements of the army, and to form an 
opinion concerning the defensive forces of other na- 
tions. In the operations department I heard lec- 
tures on the proposed concentration of the armies 
in the event of war. 

In the lectures and discussions concerning a possi- 
ble world war, I received the impression that the 
British army and its possibilities of development in 
case of war were treated too lightly. People seemed 
to reckon too much with the disposable forces of the 
moment and too little with the values which might 
be created under the pressure of war and resistance. 
I knew something of the English and their army 
from my various visits and from personal observa- 
tion, and I knew, too, their great talent for organiza- 
tion as well as their skill in improvising. If a 
conceivable war were carried successfully through 
before these talents could be brought into play, the 
estimates of our General Staff might prove correct, 
but not otherwise. The Russian army I also con- 
sidered not to have been always rated at its full 
significance. 

In regard to our western neighbor and presum- 
ably immediate adversary, I have only to recall that 
France, at that time, despite her considerably smaller 



138 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

population, maintained an army almost as large as 
ours. To do so, she levied eighty per cent of her 
men, whereas we contented ourselves with about 
fifty per cent. 

The general view of the peace strength in the 
event of a war such as that which actually occurred 
may be put thus: — For Germany not quite 900,000 
troops, and for Austria-Hungary about 500,000 — 
together, roughly 1,400,000 men on the side of the 
Central Powers. On the other hand, Russia alone 
provided the Entente with well over 2,000,000 sol- 
diers, to whom were to be added those of France and 
Belgium. Thus, even at the outset of the war, we 
were outnumbered in the ratio of two to one. Reck- 
oning the quality of the German as high as you 
please — and to place him very high was quite justi- 
fiable — the odds were too great. 

With all that, we had, in 1914, an army which, in 
every way, was brilliantly trained; and consequently, 
in the summer of that year, when the die was cast, 
we took the field "with the best army in the world." 

But, so far as provision for war was concerned, 
we had unfortunately not, in our peace prepara- 
tions, attained the maximum of striking energy. 
We had not, by a long way, exploited all the re- 
sources of power in people and land or mobilized 
them in time. That the Great General Staff had 
repeatedly expressed urgent wishes in this matter I 
can myself testify. The fault did not lie there. 



STRESS AND STORM 139 

Nor did it lie with the German Reichstag, which, in 
consideration of the menacing seriousness of the 
situation, would not, despite its party differences, 
have refused to provide the German sword with all 
passible force and keenness, if the responsible min- 
isters had used all their weight to this end. But 
it seemed then, as it had done in peace time, as 
though all communications, suggestions or inquiries 
issuing from military quarters, and especially from 
the General Staff fell on barren ground. Close 
co-operation was, under such circumstances, impos- 
sible. 

In that very year 1914, a question arose which 
was viewed from totally different standpoints by 
the two parties. The Russians began to make a 
comprehensive redisposition of their troops. Quite 
evidently the centre of gravity was being shifted 
towards the German and Austrian frontiers, which 
felt more and more the pressure of these amassments. 
From the interior of Russia, also, the General Staff 
received news of curious troop movements. How 
were these proceedings to be explained? The mili- 
tary view that they gave us good reason to be pre- 
pared for any event was met by the watery explana- 
tion that the affair was only a test mobilization; 
and, in stupid anxiety lest a definite clearing of the 
matter might "start the avalanche," the political 
gentlemen adopted the attitude of "wait and see." 



140 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

Subsequent to the summer sojourn of the General 
Staff in the Vosges under the leadership of its chief, 
von Moltke, I received a few weeks' furlough, which 
I spent in West Prussia. Early in July, I joined 
my family in a charming little villa presented to 
us by the town of Zoppot. It was a magnificently 
brilliant summer, and the days were quickly spent 
in such recreations as swimming, rowing, riding and 
tennis. Zoppot was filled with strangers, including 
many Poles. 

In the midst of this serene peacefulness, I was 
startled by the gruesome telegram which brought me 
the tidings of the Archduke's assassination. That 
this political murder would have serious conse- 
quences was obvious. But this dull, anxious con- 
viction remained, for the present, confined to my 
own bosom; not a soul among our leading states- 
men thought it necessary to hear my views or to 
inform me of those of our ministers. Neither from 
the Imperial Chancellor, nor from the Foreign Office, 
nor from the chief of the general staff did I learn 
a thing about the course of affairs. 

The Kaiser was cruising in Norwegian waters, 
which I had to take as an indication that nothing 
unusual was to be anticipated. Only the news- 
paper reports strengthened my belief that serious 
developments were approaching. From Danzig mer- 
chants who had just returned from Russia I also 
received news indicating that an extensive west- 



STRESS AND STORM 141 

ward movement of Russian troops was taking place ; 
though, naturally, I had no means of checking the 
correctness of this information. 

It was also from the press that I gleaned my first 
information concerning the Austrian ultimatum. 
Its wording left the door open to every possibility, 
according to the political attitude adopted towards 
it by our Foreign Office. To me it seemed quite 
self-evident that the Wilhelmstrasse ought to as- 
sume an independent position and certainly ought 
not to allow itself to be drawn once more, as, unhap- 
pily, had previously been the case, into the wake of 
a pronounced Austrian policy. 

To these days, in which the world faced such tre- 
mendous decisions, belongs an interlude — a painful 
one to me, that was once more to reveal to me, 
just before the eleventh hour, the chasm between 
my own conception of things and the Imperial 
Chancellor's. It was my last peace conflict with 
Herr von Bethmann — in reality a matter of no con- 
sequence, and one of which I speak here only be- 
cause, at the time, it was dragged into the news- 
papers and capital made of it to my detriment. 

I had given expression to my interest in the ut- 
terances of two Germans who, like myself, saw the 
gathering storm and raised their voices in warning. 
The one was the retired lieutenant-colonel, D. H. 
Frobenius, who had published a political pamphlet 
called "The Gernian Empire's Hour of Destiny"; 



142 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

the other was Professor Gustav Buchholz who had 
delivered a speech on Bismarck at Posen. The 
wording of my telegram to Frobenius ran: — **I have 
read with great interest your splendid brochure *Des 
Deutschen Reiches Schicksalsstunde' and wish it 
the widest circulation among the German people, 
Wilhelm Kronprinz." 

These "bellicose manifestations" ("Kriegshetze- 
rischen Kundgebungen ") Herr von Bethmann con- 
sidered calculated to "compromise and cross" 
("kompromittieren und kontrekarrieren ") his firmly 
established policy; and he found time, on July 20th, 
to address personally to His Majesty a long tele- 
gram complaining of my action and requesting 
him to forbid me by telegram all interference in 
politics. Thereupon, in a telegram from Balholm, 
dated July 21, the Kaiser, appealing to my sense 
of duty and honor as a Prussian officer, reminded 
me of my promise to refrain from all political 
activity; accordingly and without any discussion as 
to whether, in my telegram quoted above, could be 
found anything more than the thanks of an inter- 
ested and approving reader, I wired to His Majesty 
on July 23: "Commands will be carried out." At 
that moment I had other matters to worry about 
than disputes with Herr von Bethmann over the 
limits of my right to thank some one for a book that 
had been sent me. 

The next thing I learned touching the great prob- 



STRESS AND STORM 143 

lem was that the Kaiser had arrived at Kiel on 
board the "Hohenzollem" on the morning of the 
twenty-sixth and that he had proceeded immedi- 
ately to Potsdam. That was comforting, since, if 
there were any prospect of maintaining peace, he 
would exert himself to the utmost to do so. 

Then silence again. Then, in the newspapers, 
which we caught at hungrily: "Grey has suggested 
in Paris, Berlin and Rome a concerted action at 
Vienna and Belgrade — the crown council in Cetinje 
has resolved upon mobilization." 

Distinctly and clearly, as though it were but 
yesterday, I still recall the 30th of July. My adju- 
tant Miiller and I were lying in the dunes sunning 
ourselves after a delightful swim, when an urgent 
telegram was brought me by special messenger. It 
contained His Majesty's orders for me to come 
at once to Potsdam. We now saw the full serious- 
ness of the situation. 

I started immediately. 

On the thirty-first, there was a supper at the New 
Palace, at which my uncle, Prince Henry, was also 
present. 

After supper. His Majesty walked up and down 
in the garden with Prince Henry and me. He was 
excessively serious; he did not conceal from himself 
the enormous peril of the situation, but he expressed 
the hope that a European war might be avoided; he 
himself had sent detailed telegrams to the Tsar and 



144 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

to the King of England and believed he might an- 
ticipate success. 

Some difference arose between my uncle and my- 
self through my asserting that, if it came to war, 
England would most assuredly take the side of our 
adversaries. Prince Henry contested this. Thus I 
found here the same optimism that had clouded the 
views of the Imperial Chancellor who, to the last 
moment, held firm and fast to his belief in England's 
neutrality. His Majesty was in some doubt as to 
the attitude which England would adopt in the event 
of war. 

My last conversation on this question with the 
Imperial Chancellor, von Bethmann Hollweg, took 
place at the palace in Berlin on August 3. It is 
stamped into my memory — sharp and indelible; the 
impressive hour in which it occurred enhanced the 
depth and significance of the effect, which, with 
final and terrible clearness, once more revealed to 
me, on the threshold of war, that our only prospect 
of success lay in the strength of the German army. 

On that 3d of August, I had just taken leave of 
my father to join the army. My car stood ready. 
As I was about to leave the little garden between 
the palace and the Spree, I met the chancellor com- 
ing in to report to His Majesty, and we spent a few 
minutes in talk. 

Bethmann: Your Imperial Highness is going to 
the front? 



STRESS AND STORM 145 

I: Yes. 

Bethmann: Will the army do it? 

I: Whatever an army can do we shall do; but I 
feel constrained to point out to Your Excellency that 
the political aspect of the stars under which we are 
entering the war is the most unfavorable that one can 
imagine. 

Bethmann: In what way? 

I: Well that is clear: Russia, France, England on 
the other side; Italy and Roumania at most neutral 
— ^though even that is improbable. 

Bethmann: Why that is impossible. England 
will certainly remain neutral. 

I: Your Excellency will receive the declaration of 
war in a few days. There is only one thing to be 
done: to find allies. In my opinion, we must do 
everything to induce Turkey and Bulgaria to con- 
clude alliances with us as soon as possible. 

Bethmann: I should consider that the greatest 
misfortune for Germany. 

I stared at him puzzled, till I perceived the con- 
nection between his remark and what had gone be- 
fore. In his incomprehensible ideology he meant 
that, by such alliances, we might forfeit the friend- 
ship and the certain neutrality of England — friend- 
ship and neutrality that existed only in his own head. 

As soon as I grasped this, our conversation was 
over. I saluted him and drove off. 

There was only one hope, one support, on which 



146 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

we could lean; that was the German people in arms, 
the German army. With that we might perhaps 
succeed in our task despite our diplomatists and 
despite the naive imaginings of this chancellor who 
was so spiritually minded as to be almost out of 
touch with mundane realities. 

The incredible conception of our political situa- 
tion, as revealed by Herr von Bethmann Hollweg in 
the conversation just cited, is apparent also in the re- 
port of the British ambassador, Sir Edward Goschen, 
on his decisive interview with the chancellor the 
next day. According to that report, Herr von Beth- 
mann, now that he was at last bound to see before 
him England's true face, admitted with emotion 
that his entire policy had collapsed like a house of 
cards. 

Since those fateful summer days of the year 1914, 
I have thought much and often about these inci- 
dents; and here in the solitude of the island I have 
occupied myself particularly with the matter. The 
blue, the red and the white books of the various 
countries have furnished me with many a hint as to 
the actual proceedings of the weeks immediately 
before the war, and I find myself obliged to formu- 
late a judgment in even more severe terms than 
before, that in those fateful days Bethmann HoU- 
weg's policy and the Foreign Office failed more 
completely than one might have expected from the 
example of preceding years. 



STRESS AND STORM 147 

That, in a war between Austria and Serbia, Rus- 
sia would back Serbia and France Russia, and so 
on, was known to every amateur politician in Ger- 
many. Instead of critically examining Austria's 
action and saying categorically to the Ballplatz: 
"We shall not wage war for Serbia," people did as 
I had feared; they allowed themselves to be com- 
pletely taken in tow by Austria. That is what hap- 
pened, and in my opinion, none of the other rep- 
resentations of the case by the Foreign Office go to 
the root of the matter. The totally incomprehen- 
sible attitude of the Foreign Office placed us in 
quite a false light; so that the Entente, adducing 
the outward appearance as proof, assert that we 
declined the mediation of England because we 
wished to go to war. 

Withal, this Foreign Office was so sure of itself 
that it allowed the Kaiser to proceed to Norway, 
the chief of the general staff to stay at Carlsbad, 
and His Excellency, von Tirpitz, to remain on fur- 
lough in the Black Forest. 

Thanks to an incredibly blind management of our 
foreign affairs, we just blundered into the world 
war. So remarkable was the incompetence of our 
responsible authorities that the world refused to 
believe us, refused to regard such simplicity as pos- 
sible, took it to be a cleverly selected mask behind 
which was hidden some particularly cunning scheme. 

When the Kaiser returned from Norway, it was 



148 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

too late to accomplish anything. Destiny strode 
her way. 

June, 1920. 

For considerably more than half a year, I have 
not had in my hands these sheets on which I had 
set down a review of my life and of my immediate 
environment down to the outbreak of war and, at 
the same time, my impressions and reminiscences of 
the events which led up to it. Not that I had given 
up the idea of sketching the incidents of the war in 
a similar way, but because, in the progress of the 
work, it soon appeared necessary to lift these out 
of the scope of personal reminiscences and to mould 
them into the form of an historical presentation of 
the events of the war. 

Consequently, from October of last year till now, 
my task has been the recording of the purely mili- 
tary happenings which from the day we took the 
field I shared and experienced in common with the 
troops intrusted to me, during the long days of the 
war as leader of the Fifth Army and as commander- 
in-chief of the "Kronprinz" group of armies. 

All the great events experienced in those years 
and all the sufferings that I had to wrestle with and 
to bear I have conscientiously noted down. In this 
way there has been laid the foundation of a presen- 
tation of the tremendous military performances of 
that fellowship whose members stood as comrades 



STRESS AND STORM 149 

under me and with me in the field. It is a presen- 
tation which, the more I occupied myself with it, 
tempted me the more to make the utmost use of the 
copious material in my possession; I was lured, too, 
by the thought of erecting to my faithful fellow 
soldiers a chaste and simple monument in the shape 
of a straightforward and unadorned narration of 
their doings. 

The account that I have given in it, as a soldier, 
of those bloody and yet immortally great four and 
a half years will not fit into the framework of what 
I have previously recounted in these pages. It is 
military technical writing in the strictest sense of 
the word and is to take the character of a separate 
and complete volume. 

These considerations have led me to decide upon 
lifting the presentation of the military enterprises 
and battles bodily out of these present memoirs and 
to proceed, as before, with the frank and free de- 
scription of my most personal impressions and ex- 
periences and my attitude towards the most weighty 
problems brought before me by the war and into 
which I was swept by the general collapse and crash. 

But before returning to my remembrances of that 
more distant past, I should like to say something of 
the eight or nine months which have elapsed since I 
wrote of them last in this manuscript. 

If any one had said to me last autumn : When the 
New Year comes, the spring, the summer, you will 



150 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

still be on this island and far from your home, I 
should not have believed him, should scarcely have 
been able to bear the thought of it. Thus the never- 
failing hopes of a progressive restoration of our 
homeland to fresh order and tranquillity coupled 
with the work which — alongside of everything else 
brought by the days, months and seasons — I have 
never interrupted for any length of time, have helped 
me over this period. Friends, also, who have visited 
me in my solitude and brought me a kind of echo 
from the world, have helped to lighten my seques- 
tered lot; so, too, have the good, simple people 
around me, who, since they made the acquaintance 
of my wife, have grown doubly fond of me; finally, 
there is my faithful comrade. Major von Miildner, 
who, in self-sacrificing devotion, shares with me this 
solitude and, ever and again, takes upon himself a 
thousand and one troubles and worries in order to 
spare me the burden. 

Who were all the people that came? In autumn 
there was that fine editor, Prell, a thorough Ger- 
man, who conducts the Niederldndische Wochen- 
schrift in Amsterdam, accompanied by his col- 
league, Mr. Rostock. This German-American gave 
me some interesting descriptions of anti-German 
war propaganda in America. He also brought with 
him a propaganda picture which is said to have met 
with great success over there; it represented me 
armed as an ancient Teutonic warrior, fighting 



STRESS AND STORM 151 

women and children in the attack on Verdun. An- 
other visitor was Captain Konig, the famous com- 
mander of the submarine '* Deutschland." Then there 
were Mr. Kan, the secretary general to the Home 
Office, a strictly correct Dutch state official, to whose 
truly humane care I owe so much — and His Excel- 
lency, von Berg, formerly Supreme President of 
East Prussia and afterwards chief of the depart- 
ment of home aifairs, who has proved one of the 
best and most unerringly faithful advisers of our 
house in fortune and misfortune; he belongs to the 
distant "Borussia" days of Bonn, was a friend of 
the Kaiser's in his youth, and is one of the men 
who, with deep human comprehension, have re- 
mained true to the lonely, aging man at Amerongen. 

The winter has set in with comfortless and sombre 
severity. The anniversary of my landing on the 
island was shrouded in grayness and mist, like the 
day itself. Leaden clouds lay heavy over the sea 
and over the little island; and, day and night, tem- 
pests swept across the dikes and scourged the un- 
happy country. A few days' work with Major 
Kurt, my former clever and indefatigably active 
intelligence officer, constituted a welcome respite. 

Shortly before Christmas, Miiller, my old adju- 
tant and chief of staff, arrived with Christmas 
presents from home — ^presents sent by relatives and 
touching tokens of affection from modest, unknown 
persons. For the German children who, at the 



152 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

time, were staying with good people on the island 
to recuperate from the gruesome effects of the famine 
blockade, I arranged a Christmas feast in the little 
Seeblick Inn at Oosterland with a Christmas tree 
and all sorts of presents and old German carols. 

On December 23, the small and intimate circle of 
my household celebrated Christmas in the parson- 
age; and next day Miildner and I, accompanied by 
two gentlemen appointed by the Dutch Government, 
crossed over to the mainland and proceeded to 
Amerongen to keep Christmas with my parents in 
the hospitable home of Count Bentinck. A few 
months before — ^in October — I had seen my father 
for the first time since that 9th of November of the 
previous year, on which day, after grave talks, I 
had left him in Spa under the assured conviction 
that, in spite of all opposition, he would remain 
with the army. 

Ineffaceable is the image left to me of that man 
with silver-gray hair standing in the light of the 
many candles on the tall, dark-green tree; still there 
rings in my ear the unforgetable voice as, on that 
Christmas Eve, he read the gospel of the first Noel: 
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
good-will toward men." 

On the twenty-seventh I travelled back to 
Wieringen. 

The New Year came and its days resembled the 
days of the year gone by. "Peace on earth"? 



STRESS AND STORM 153 

Hatred and revenge more savage than ever before ! 
The unbroken determination to destroy on the part 
of France, who cannot pardon us the mendacity of 
her theses on war guilt ! The newspapers once more 
full of inflammatory comments on the extradition 
question! And, very amusing for me, the wild 
rumors of my approaching or even accomplished 
flight in an aeroplane, a submarine or God knows 
what! On one occasion two American journalists 
actually appeared in my cottage and asked permis- 
sion to assure themselves of my presence here with 
their own eyes. I willingly consented to their re- 
quest. 

In the beginning of February, the official extradi- 
tion list was made known — ^nine hundred names, 
with mine at the head. On that occasion, for the 
first time, I interrupted the aloofness of my life here 
on this island, and addressed a telegram to the 
Allied powers, offering to place myself voluntarily at 
their disposal in lieu of the other men claimed. 
This step, a simple outcome of my feelings, evoked 
no reply from any one of the powers and was exten- 
sively misinterpreted both at home and abroad. 

Buoyed up by the reports in the various news- 
papers, I lived on into March in the hope that, 
despite all the after effects of the revolution fever 
and party strife, our homeland was on the road to 
internal tranquillity and consolidation. This belief 
was suddenly crushed by the news of the Kapp 



154 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

putsch and its important consequences. Over and 
above the pain caused by this relapse into san- 
guinary disturbances, the incident meant for me a 
bitter disappointment of my hopes that, at perhaps 
no very distant date, I might venture to return to my 
place within my family and on German soil without 
risk of introducing fresh inflammable matter into 
the Fatherland. Events had demonstrated that 
the hour of my return had not yet come, that pos- 
sibly it still lay in the distant future. Considering 
the mentality manifested by the homeland, I was 
forced to fear that I might become the apple of dis- 
cord among opposing parties, to fear that — ^hold 
aloof from all political affairs as I might — ^my return 
would be made the countersign for fresh struggles 
for and against existing conditions by one party or 
another without any consideration of my wishes in 
the matter. The reasons which, on November 11, 
1918, had decided me, with a heavy heart, to go to 
Holland proved to be still valid; hence, if I were 
not to render null and void the object of my sacrifice 
by failure half-way to its completion, I had still to 
remain and to endure. 

I frankly concede that those March days, in which, 
with intense bitterness, I struggled through to this 
conviction, held some of the hardest hours of my life. 
The fifteen months spent on my island in primitive 
surroundings and far from every intellectual stimulus 
and from all culture had been rendered tolerable by 



STRESS AND STORM 155 

the belief that the end of my solitude and the re- 
entrance into the circle of my people and into the 
life of German labor were within measurable dis- 
tance of being accomplished. The goal had seemed 
to be attainable in perhaps a few months. This 
open outlook had enabled me to endure really very 
great hardships with courage, and the thought that it 
was now only a little while longer had been my best 
solace. In this way everything acquired the char- 
acter of the transitory and provisional. 

It would have been stupid self-deception for me 
to try to maintain this confidence after those days 
of March. The old wounds that had been ripped 
open again could not be healed in months; it would 
take years for that. 

It is strange how small, external aids of nature 
often give us sudden strength to overcome the sever- 
est mental conflicts that have lasted for days and 
nights together. I quite clearly see a day at the 
end of March. I smell the keen sea breeze and the 
vapors of the ground as the earth awakened in the 
early spring. From the study in my parsonage a 
small veranda, bitterly cold in winter, communi- 
cates with the vegetable garden — long and narrow 
like a towel and not much bigger. On the day in 
question, I was standing in the doorway of the ver- 
anda and looking pensively across the desolate 
winter-worn garden. In the previous spring we 
had let everything grow as rank and wild as it 



156 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

pleased. Why not? We should be gone in three 
months or so. But now, at the sight of the tangled 
and unkempt beds, the raggedness of the shrubs, 
and the paths weather-worn by frost and rain, I 
felt suddenly the impulse to do something here. 
Against a little kennel-like shed attached to the 
house there leaned a spade. I snatched it up with 
an ardent will, and set to digging. I went on and 
on till my back ached. The work of that hour was 
a relief from the inner burden I bore. I would not 
let the time pass in vainly waiting for the hour of 
my return home. Strive for the attainment of your 
wishes and your longings, but accept the hardships 
of the times and so live that they, too, may help to 
determine the future. Since that morning, I have 
worked daily in our little garden. It is restored to 
order. Some one will reap the fruits — I or another. 
That was in the days of the Kapp putsch, I must 
say something more about this unhappy episode. 
Feeling and believing that a monarchical Govern- 
ment, which stands above all party differences, best 
suits the peculiar political and complex conditions 
of our homeland — of the German country and the 
German people — I should not be true to my convic- 
tions if I did not frankly state that I can understand 
the temptations and allurements which enmeshed 
so many excellent, experienced men — ^men of high 
ideals — ^in this mistaken enterprise. That they 
lacked a proper understanding of the new situation 



STRESS AND STORM 157 

created by the collapse of Germany and consequently 
had not the necessary strength to withstand the 
temptation of the moment I deeply regret. To 
reckon with facts, even when the facts do not re- 
spond to our wishes, is more essential for us Germans 
than ever, because our prime and weightiest duty 
towards ourselves and our successors is first to re- 
build our demolished house, and every particle of 
strength squandered in pursuing other aims is lost 
to the main object. So soon as that house stands 
once more grand and firm on the soil of our home, 
our disease-stricken and debilitated German na- 
tional feeling will find its strength again in its pride 
over what has been done. 

What more have I to report? A mild spring has 
come — ^my second spring on the island. My parents 
have removed to their new residence. 

:(: :t: if: >ic :)£ 

In his records published towards the end of 1919, 
Lord Fisher says with blunt candor: — 

"The essence of War is Violence.** 
"Moderation in War is Imbecility." 

" It is the duty of the Government — of any Gov- 
ernment — to rely very largely upon the advice of 
its military and naval counsellors; but in the long 
run, a Government which is worthy of the name, 
which is adequate in the discharge of the trust which 



158 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

the nation reposes in it, must bring all these things 
into some kind of proportion one to the other; and 
sometimes it is not only expedient, but necessary, 
to run risks and to encounter dangers which pure 
naval or military policy would warn you against." 

If we admit the correctness of these maxims of 
Lord Fisher — and, for my own part, I do not hesi- 
tate to subscribe to them — ^we find in them a keen 
criticism of the attitude of our Imperial Government, 
since, throughout the war, there was no such co- 
operation between it and the Higher Command, 
and, above all, there was no such preponderance of 
the Government. The Imperial Government, which 
ought to have uttered the final and decisive word in 
all matters touching the sphere of politics, played 
much too passive a part. In critical moments, when 
events clamored for decision and for action, little 
or nothing was done. At the best, the Government 
** weighed considerations," "made inquiries," swayed 
between the "to be sure" of their discernment and 
the "but nevertheless" of their fear of every ac- 
tivity, so that the right moment was allowed to 
pass unseized. So it came about that the Higher 
Command occasionally interfered more in questions 
of home and foreign policy than, according to its 
province, it ought strictly to have done. It is this 
which now forms the principal accusation against 
General Ludendorff. But the Higher Command 
did so, because it was forced to do so; it did so in 



STRESS AND STORM 159 

order that something, at any rate, might be under- 
taken for the solution of pressing questions, that 
things might not simply disappear in sand. If, 
therefore, the public blamed General Ludendorff, 
and still blame him for having ruled like a dictator 
inasmuch as he meddled with all political affairs 
and with problems of substitutes of every kind, food, 
raw materials and labor, no one acquainted with the 
actual circumstances and events is likely to deny that 
there is a grain of truth in the assertion. He will have 
to point out, however, that General Ludendorff was 
compelled to interfere by the inactivity and weak- 
ness of the authorities and personages whose right 
and whose duty it was to fulfil the tasks arising out 
of the matters in question. I could not contradict 
Ludendorff when he used to say to me: "All that is 
really no business of mine; but something must be 
done, and if I don't do it, nothing will be done at 
home,'* meaning by the Government. In such 
moments, my heart well understood this energetic 
and resolute man, albeit my reason told me that 
there was too, too much piled upon his shoulders. 
Every man's capacities have their limit; and no 
day has more than 24 hours. Hence it was impos- 
sible for one man, even one of our best, to supervise 
and direct both the enormous apparatus of our 
Higher Command and also every domain of our 
economics and of our home and foreign policy. The 
necessity of adapting himself to such excessive tasks 



160 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

was bound to cause some detriment to the powers 
of the most highly gifted person. 

The unfavorable issue of the Battle of the Mame 
in September, 1914, frustrated the prospects of 
Schlieffen's programme of first rapidly prostrating 
France and then dealing with Russia. That we 
were faced with a war of indefinite duration now 
seemed probable and, personally — in the year 1915 
— I came to the conclusion that, in the event of an 
excessive prolongation of the war, time would be on 
the side of our adversaries. It was bound to give 
them the opportunity of mobilizing the immeasur- 
able resources of the world which lay like a hinter- 
land behind their fronts. It would give them the 
chance of marshalling these against us, while our 
mewed-up Central Europe had to confine itself to 
the exploitation of its own raw material which, 
moreover, had not been supplemented by any sys- 
tematic pre-war preparation. Time, too, would af- 
ford our adversaries opportunity to levy and train 
enormous armies and to reduce to a minimum the 
calls made upon the individual fighter; whereas we 
should be forced to demand from every German the 
sacrifice of his last ounce of energy, thus, in the end, 
exhausting our strength by the inequality of the 
terms imposed. 

From the moment that this was recognized, it be- 
came the duty and task of the leading statesman, 
the Imperial Chancellor, continually to consider 



STRESS AND STORM 161 

political steps for the conclusion of the war more 
or less independently of the plans and views of 
the military leadership. Whatever successes were 
achieved by the army, were they never so brilliant, 
the far-sighted politician ought to have made use 
of them solely and simply as footholds and rungs 
for him to climb by; on no account ought he to 
have been dazzled by them; on no account ought he 
to have adopted towards the Higher Command the 
attitude: "Finish your work first; then it will be 
my turn, for the present there is nothing for me to 
do." But had Herr von Bethmann HoUweg the 
least capacity to will vigorously or boldly to dare 
anything? Had he survived the terrible collapse of 
his "England theory" or the political hara-kiri of his 
declaration of August 4, 1914, as a man psychically 
unimpaired? Be that as it may, our political des- 
tiny continued to remain intrusted to this man, 
whose hands had been palsied by ill-starred enter- 
prises and whose eyes had acquired the lack-lustre 
of resignation. When I seek for any energy in Beth- 
mann Hollweg, there occurs forcibly to my mind an 
episode told me, with every guarantee for its ve- 
racity, by a Hamburg ship owner in the summer of 
1915. Ballin, he said, had called on the Imperial 
Chancellor and, out of the wealth of his knowledge 
concerning world affairs, had urgently talked to 
him about the general situation. When he stopped, 
Bethmann heaved a deep sigh, drew his hand across 



162 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

his forehead and said: ** I only wish I were dead. ..." 
In order to rouse him out of his lethargy, Ballin, 
with an attempt to laugh, replied: "I dare say you 
do. No doubt it would just suit you admirably to 
lie in your coffin all day long and watch other people 
toiling and worrying." 

Quite certainly it would have been no easy matter, 
and for that discouraged heart it would have been 
impossible, to detach one of our enemies from the 
alliance and come to a separate understanding with 
him; but that it would have been useless, as the 
Foreign Office assumed, to make the attempt, I 
failed to see during the war and I fail to see still. 
Separate peace might, I conceive, have been con- 
cluded perhaps with Russia, say in the early sum- 
mer of 1915, immediately after our break through 
at Gorlice. Still the difficulties of negotiating 
with Russia at that time were very great. Nicolai 
Nicolaievitch and the entire Russian war party 
were at the helm of affairs, the Entente agreement 
to conclude no separate peace was still quite young, 
and Italy's entrance into the war dated only from 
May. But, for all that, it is impossible to say what 
attitude Russia would have adopted towards pro- 
posals on our part if they had included the preser- 
vation of her frontier-line of August 1, 1914, and a 
big financial loan or the guarantee of her financial 
obligations towards France. 

In any case, the chances of a separate arrange- 



STRESS AND STORM 163 

ment with Russia were excellent in the latter part 
of the summer of 1915, when Russia was in very 
serious military difficulties and the Tsar had ap- 
pointed the admittedly pro-German Stuermer, to 
the premiership. I considered it, at the time, an 
unmistakable sign of willingness to negotiate, and 
I urged our leaders to grasp the opportunity. As a 
matter of fact, in the course of the summer and in 
the early autumn, numerous deliberations of a gen- 
eral character were carried on and terms consid- 
ered; but all this took place privately among Ger- 
man diplomatists or extended only to conversations 
between them and the Higher Command. Prac- 
tical deductions which might have resulted in the 
inauguration of relations with Stuermer were not 
discussed. We got no farther than empty lamen- 
tations and futile complaints that the war had 
completely cut us off from all possibility of com- 
municating with people across the frontier, that we 
could not join them, "the water was much too 
deep." 

If it be contended that it is all very easy, now 
that the war has been lost, to come forward and 
say "I always told you so; if you had listened to 
me, things might have turned out differently," I 
would meet such not altogether unjustifiable argu- 
ments by quoting some thoughts and suggestions 
from a memorial drawoi up and addressed by me 
to all persons concerned on December 18, 1915, 



164 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

that is to say, at a time when such ideas might have 
borne fruit. In this memorial, I maintained that 
we ought to strain every nerve to achieve a separate 
peace with one of our opponents. Russia appeared 
to me to be the most suitable. At the end of the 
memorial I wrote: — 

"What our people have accomplished in this war 
will only be properly valued by historians of a 
future date. But we will not flatter ourselves with 
any complaisant self-deception. The sacrifice of 
blood already made by the German people is enor- 
mous. ... It is not my office here to marshal the 
figures; but a series of very grave indications ought 
to make us consider how long we can continue to 
fill up the gaps in our army. I am quite aware 
that, if we were to drain our national energy in 
the same way as France, the war might be con- 
tinued for a very long time. But this is just what 
ought to be avoided. Every one who is at all in 
intimate touch with the front is deeply saddened 
when he sees what children now find their way into 
the trenches. We ought to consider that, after the 
war, Germany will need forces to enable her to ful- 
fil her mission. I will not speak here of the finan- 
cial situation because, I am not in a position to 
form a competent opinion. In an economic sense, 
Germany has adapted herself to the circumstances 
of the war most admirably; but still in this domain 
also should be the desire not to prolong the war un- 



STRESS AND STORM 165 

necessarily, as that would cause too heavy a loss. 
Moreover, despite all the wise measures of the 
Government, the progressive rise in the cost of 
living continues to weigh upon the poorer classes of 
the population, and there is a great lack of fodder 
in the country. All this, with all that it involves, 
makes a curtailment of the war very desirable; so 
that the answer to the question 'What can we at- 
tain?* is simply this: — 

"If we get a separate peace with Russia, we can 
make a clean sweep in the west. If this is im- 
possible, we ought to endeavor to bring about an 
understanding with England. Only in one of these 
ways, is it, I believe, feasible to bring the end 
within sight; and an end must be made visible, un- 
less we are to fight on till our country is utterly 
exhausted. 

"Our present favorable situation makes it pos- 
sible to proceed on the lines suggested." 

That is what I wrote and advocated before 
Christmas, 1915. It had no effect whatever; I 
might as well have shouted to the winds. 

Similar circumstances arose the following year; 
but it was not until the autumn of 1916 that the 
Imperial Chancellor had carried his ponderings to 
the conclusion that there was no prospect of a sepa- 
rate peace with Russia: Russia, he said, was under 
the dictation of England, and England was for con- 
tinuing the war. Meantime we had truly gained a 



166 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

success which was bound to exclude all possibility 
of an amicable understanding with Tsarist Russia; 
we had created the Kingdom of Poland and, in the 
summer of 1916, we had drafted a Polish programme 
that could not but act like a blow in the face to the 
Tsar and to all Russia. Stuermer fell; and, in the 
early spring of 1917, the Tsar was swept off the 
throne by the waves of the revolution which the 
Entente had been promoting. During the months 
which followed the outbreak of that revolution, the 
east front was quiet. It was not until the last day 
of June that the Russians attacked again under 
Brussilov. A fortnight later, our counter-attack 
pierced their lines at Tarnopol and a great victory 
was gained over the already decaying Russian army. 
At about the same time, namely, on July 12, 
Bethmann resigned. In the main, the chancellor's 
remarks in his second volume concerning my share 
in the proceedings are correct, and I have nothing of 
moment to add to them. Herr Michaelis, a man 
of unproven political possibilities and concerning 
whose capacities or incapacities no one, at that 
time, was able to express a convincing judgment, 
took over the inheritance. According to what I 
heard, Valentini, wringing his hands and crying "A 
kingdom for a chancellor," stumbled, in his search, 
across this official, who, within the scope of his pre- 
vious labors, had certainly merited well. I myself 
had never yet met Dr. Michaelis. He was now in- 



STRESS AND STORM 167 

troduced to me as an exceptionally capable man to 
whom one might apply the proverb "Still waters 
run deep." This was in July, 1917, just before 
his presentation to the Kaiser, and when, at the 
command of His Majesty, I was to negotiate with 
the party leaders at Schloss Bellevue in connection 
with the Bethmann crisis. The conversation turned 
upon the burning question of the situation created 
by the action of Erzberger in the Reichstag Com- 
mittee, and still more upon the bad impression made 
upon the enemy by the matter and form of the 
peace resolution, whose drafting was so impolitic, 
unwise and clumsy that it had seriously injured our 
interests. Instead of being the expression of a 
genuine desire for peace on the part of an unbroken 
combatant, this resolution looked like a sign of 
military weakness and waning resistance. Only the 
reverse of the desired effect could be expected. I 
found Michaelis in general quite of my own opin- 
ion; but I could not induce him, in this short inter- 
view, to disclose his own ideas, and consequently I 
could form no image of the plans he carried in his 
pocket for grappling with the exceedingly difficult 
task which was to fall to him as Bethmann's heir. 
But in Dr. Michaelis, the best of intentions coupled 
with pious confidence was recognizable. That was 
not exactly a great deal; but I said to myself: He 
is about to present himself to His Majesty, he knows 
your antipathy to the policy prevailing hitherto 



168 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

and does not know how much he can venture to say 
to you; you must wait and see. In any case, the 
change of chancellors appeared to provide the right 
moment for me to risk raising my voice once again 
and to place my view of things before the deciding 
authorities. I was induced to take this course by 
the conviction that, after all, the criticism which I 
had expressed upon the Bethmann HoUweg Govern- 
ment, a judgment upon a system which, with Beth- 
mann's exit, had come to a certain formal close, 
should not exhaust itself in rejection and negation; 
I felt that he who claimed the right to criticise as- 
sumed the duty of proposing something better and 
of defending it both in the present and in the future. 
Consequently, in the summer of 1917, while we 
were fighting in Russia, I worked out another 
memorial and laid it simultaneously before the 
Kaiser, the Imperial Chancellor and the Higher 
Command. It came into being in the days when, 
as leader of my army, I had just gained on the 
Aisne and in the Champagne an extensive defensive 
victory against an attempt of 79 French divisions 
to pierce my lines; and I will gladly leave it to 
public opinion to decide whether, in this memorial, 
the "war fanatic" and "victor" is speaking or 
whether it is a witness to my desire for an honorable 
peace. This memorial was written after a conver- 
sation with the clever and politically far-sighted 
Dr. Victor Naumann, but only those paragraphs re- 



STRESS AND STORM 169 

ferring to our foreign policy have any significance 
for my then attitude towards the peace question in 
the East. I quote here the principal passages, be- 
cause, taken together as a whole, they show my atti- 
tude at that time towards many other important 
questions connected with the war: — 

"The change in the leadership of the empire, 
with which is to begin a new era in German and 
Russian policy, will naturally necessitate the draw- 
ing up of a balance concerning the past, in order to 
find a more or less reliable basis for future plans. 
In my opinion, therefore, the following points must 
be determined: — 

1) What stocks have we of raw materials of 

every kind ? 

2) What is our maximum capacity for work- 

ing up these materials ? 

3) What stocks of coal do we possess ? 

4) What stocks of food and fodder have we ? 

5) What is the position of our transport facili- 

ties? 

"When this has been determined, it will be neces- 
sary to decide how many military recruits Germany 
can call up and train next year without imperilling 
her absolutely essential economic capacity. 

"But this is not all. We must also consider the 
moral values, the mood of the people; and in test- 
ing these, one may with tolerable certainty predict 
that the longing for peace in the masses of the 



170 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

population has become very strong. The enormous 
sacrifices of blood during the three years of war 
already experienced — sacrifices which have cast al- 
most every German home and every German family 
into mourning — ^the prospect of fresh and severe 
losses of valuable human life, the mental depression 
caused and augmented by privations of every kind, 
the dearth of food and coal — all these things com- 
bined have awakened a dissatisfaction in wide 
circles of the people (and not by any means only 
among the social democrats) which is as hampering 
to the continuance of the war as it is disintegrating 
to the monarchical idea. 

" If it be added that the assured hope of a rapid 
conclusion of the U-boat warfare has not been ful- 
filled, this serious mood ceases to cause surprise. 

"We ought to construct, from the best accessible 
data, schedules of the resources of our allies parallel 
with those drawn up concerning our own; for only 
so can we learn what we have to expect and what 
we can accomplish. 

"All this information in regard to ourselves and 
our allies having been collected, we shall have to 
obtain an approximately accurate knowledge of the 
forces and reserves of the enemy. Without exposing 
oneself to the reproach of being a pessimist, one 
may say at once that a comparison of the schedules 
will scarcely turn out favorable to ourselves. The 
natural deduction is that, even at the best, an at- 



STRESS AND STORM 171 

tack on our part is no longer to be thought of, but 
only a maintenance of our position coupled with 
intensive prosecution of the U-boat warfare for a 
certain period. If this expires without having 
brought us any hope of a cessation of hostilities, we 
must seek the peace which our diplomatists will 
meanwhile have been preparing. This duty is all 
the more incumbent upon us inasmuch as we must 
say to ourselves that our chief ally, Austria-Hun- 
gary, by reason of her economic and, still more, her 
political conditions at home, will be unable to prose- 
cute the war for more than a moderate length of 
time. I need scarcely add that, in Turkey also, 
the situation is anything but rosy. 

"Now I do not for one moment overlook the fact 
that our adversaries also find themselves in a diffi- 
cult position or that they dread another winter 
campaign extremely. Yet, there are two factors 
which have recently evoked a certain change of 
feeling. The first is America's entrance into the 
struggle, and the hopes which it has awakened; the 
second is the overhasty action of the Reichstag (in 
the peace resolution), which, in enemy and neutral 
countries, is regarded as an absolute declaration of 
bankruptcy. To-day, in London and Paris, and 
even in Rome, people believe that they may wait 
for us to lay down our arms, since it is now only a 
question of time. 

"Now, what are we to do in order to persist with 



172 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

honor and, if possible, with success, despite all 
these things? First, what are we to do at home? 
We must have maintenance of the line of demarca- 
tion between the individual offices of the empire 
without prejudice to united action. Although, there- 
fore, the leading minister bears the full responsibility 
for our home and foreign policy, wholesome co- 
operation with the Higher Command, the Admiralty, 
etc., is indispensable. The larger federal states must 
also be kept informed as to our situation. Serious 
attention must continue to be paid to the regulation 
of our coal and food supplies. 

"Foreign Policy. — ^Here again only one will can 
dominate, but it must be aided by the mutual and 
candid information of the directing offices, e. g., 
the Foreign Office, the Higher Command, the Ad- 
miralty. Candor towards our allies is a duty. So 
far as possible we must spare the neutrals and defer 
to their wishes. 

"Every idea of seeking peace via England is to 
be given up, and a resolute endeavor made to ob- 
tain peace with Russia. There is hope that, with 
the repulse of the present attack, a change of mood 
will take place in Russia; then we must seize the 
right opportunity. We may also advise the neu- 
trals that, in general, we are not averse to peace on 
the basis of the status quo ante; they will let the 
other side know. Simultaneously, deft negotiators 
must use persuasion with the Russians. 



STRESS AND STORM 173 

"It is almost certain that the West will decline. 
On the other hand, it may be hoped that Russia will 
seek peace. In this case, we shall have created a 
situation which will render England — already groan- 
ing under the effects of the U-boat privations — some- 
what dubious as to whether she and her allies shall 
fight on or, within a reasonable time, enter into 
negotiations with us. Should Russia not give way, 
then we can come before the people and say: 'We 
have done everything to bring about peace. It is 
now demonstrated that our enemies wish to de- 
stroy us; therefore we must strain every nerve to 
frustrate their aim.' Possibly such action may 
bring us unsuspected help out of the ranks of the 
people. Under all circumstances, it is our duty to 
work for a not too distant peace; for, unless the 
U-boats shall have brought England to reason within 
the next few months, their further employment will 
not have the same effect as heretofore. Distress 
with us will increase, and the replenishment of our 
reserves of men will become more difficult from day 
to day. The vital energy of our people will be di- 
minished by further blood-letting; in the interior, 
strikes and revolts may occur; a failure in the pro- 
duction of ammunition may render us defenseless. 
The financial burden of the empire will swell to 
gigantic proportions; our allies will possibly seek 
separate peace; the neutrals may be forced to join 
the enemy. 



174 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

"To carry out a policy properly one must have 
the courage to look facts in the face. A danger 
recognized is a danger half surmounted. Just now 
the preservation of the dynasty, the maintenance of 
the German Empire and the existence of the Ger- 
man people are all concerned. If our enemies dic- 
tate peace, the last syllable of Hohenzollem, Prus- 
sian and German history will have been written. 
It must not come to that; and therefore, it is our 
duty, if so it must be, to attain a peace of compro- 
mise. Such a peace would truly be a disappoint- 
ment; but an indefinite prolongation of the war 
might see us, in the spring of 1918, facing the whole 
world alone, shorn of our allies, bleeding from the 
severe wounds of a three and a half years' war and 
threatened with destruction. 

"If we conclude an early peace with our eastern 
adversary, Russia will lie open to us as a domain 
for economic expansion. If that peace comes too 
late, then we come too late, because the Americans 
will have gained a firm footing in that vast realm. 
But we must also remember that, with an early 
peace, we should have financially won the war. 

"One thing is certain: if we but maintain our- 
selves in this war, we shall be the real victors, be- 
cause we shall have fought the whole world without 
being destroyed. This will procure us after the war 
an unexampled prestige and an enormous increase 
of power. Our position resembles that of Frederick 



STRESS AND STORM 175 

the Great, prior to the Peace of Hubertsburg. He 
stands rightly recorded in history as the victor, be- 
cause he was not defeated. 

(Signed) "WILHELM, 
Crown Prince of the German Empire and of Prussia." 

In March, 1918, roughly three-quarters of a year 
after the drafting of my memorial, we concluded a 
peace with revolutionary Russia. What a peace! 
On the one hand with the dominating demeanor of 
the victor who dictatorially imposes his will, — on the 
other hand yielding and accommodatingly trustful 
in questions that concerned our vitals. Joffe was 
permitted to come to Berlin and circulate his rou- 
bles in Germany for the world revolution. Once 
more the old half-and-half methods. 

No, so far as I can see, the Government did not 
make a sufficiently earnest effort to supplement the 
work of the sword with vigorous, prompt and ade- 
quate political measures. 

In quoting the memorials addressed by me, in 
December 1915, and in July 1917, to the Kaiser, 
the Higher Command and the Imperial Chancellor, 
I have demonstrated that, during the war, I repeat- 
edly and urgently advocated preparing the way for 
a peace by compromise. Of course the drafts re- 
ferred to were only two of the many efforts which 
I made in the same direction. It would vastly ex- 
ceed the limits proposed for these memoirs if I were 



176 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

to give chapter and verse for all that I undertook, 
subsequent to the Battle of the Mame, for the carry- 
ing out of my ideas which I never recanted, that the 
indefinite prolonging of the war would be intoler- 
able, both for those at the front and those at home, 
as well as the urgent need for a compromise, and 
how advantageous (even though it might appear 
scarcely beneficial at first) this compromise would 
be compared with a similar agreement reached after 
complete exhaustion. Besides this from my own 
knowledge gained in personal contact with soldiers 
and civilians I have made attempts to correct the 
erroneous and optimistic notions entertained in cer- 
tain high quarters concerning the privations of the 
people at home, about the power of endurance of 
the troops at the front who had been overburdened 
during the past year and about many similar ques- 
tions. To all these questions I may refer later on. 

"But," many will say, "in public and especially 
to the troops, the Crown Prince, more than once, 
both by word of mouth and in writing, expressed 
and demanded determination to conquer and con- 
fidence of victory. He wished to prevent certain 
German journals, which tended to damp this con- 
fidence, from reaching the front." 

Yes, assuredly I did ! And, in doing so, I fulfilled 
my duty as an officer and a soldier, just as I fulfilled 
my duty as a politically thinking man and as Crown 
Prince of the German Empire and of Prussia when 



STRESS AND STORM 177 

I endeavored to induce the proper authorities to 
face unwelcome facts and to strive for a peace by 
compromise. I am of the firm opinion that each of 
these apparently so opposite actions was perfectly 
justified and that they were, indeed, complementary. 
I only regret that, as an adviser without political re- 
sponsibility, I possessed neither the means nor the 
power to influence successfully the politically re- 
sponsible persons, and that I had to look on while 
political resolutions and irresolution were, as I be- 
lieved, determining unhappily the destiny of Ger- 
many. 

I referred just now to my suggested prohibition 
at the front of various journals which systematically 
injured our prospects of winning the war. At that 
time the democrats talked with great indignation 
about a deliberate gagging of the press and of the 
public if the idea were carried out — at that time, 
forsooth, when it was essential to preserve for its 
sole task the army on which everything depended 
and to shield it from any deteriorating or disin- 
tegrating influences. As a matter of fact, nothing 
was done; the evil was permitted to continue its 
corrosion. 

Only with the support of a people determined to 
win and convinced of victory could the Government 
risk steps to bring about a separate peace — an un- 
derstanding with one or another of our adversaries. 
Every effort in this direction was futile, nay, per- 



178 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

nicious and injurious, when we gave the impression 
of being unable to continue the war and urgently 
needing peace. Useless and senseless, therefore, 
were the offers of peace publicly shouted out to 
the world — offers which also gave no clear notion 
of what we really wanted. These offers — as any 
statesmen ought to have foreseen — only served to 
strengthen our enemies' hopes of an early collapse 
of our country, to increase their confidence and 
their determination to hold on till the "knock-out- 
blow" all to our detriment, all to our doom. 

For the duration of the war and to carry it to a 
fortunate issue, determination to win and confidence 
of victory were only to be maintained in people or 
army if, at the head of affairs, stood not merely vigor- 
ous and bold military leaders but likewise an equally 
capable Government, which, during the bloody 
struggle on land, at sea, in the air, should not for 
one second lose control of the numberless threads 
of its foreign policy and which should never allow 
the slightest favorable movement of events in the 
war-fevered world to escape the grasp of its ever- 
ready hand — a Government that, with keen fore- 
sight, yet with wise recognition and consideration of 
what was possible, was able to see before it the road 
along which it could lead the country as rapidly as 
possible to a happy and honorable peace. 

The only Government that could be a sure guide 
to satisfactory peace was one which, by means of a 



STRESS AND STORM 179 

wise home policy, had under complete control all the 
various elements, classes, members and parties of 
the entire people. 

That it was particularly difficult to concentrate 
into one dynamic entity the variety of opinions, 
wishes and impulses of a people so inclined to inter- 
nal differences and quarrels as the Germans is quite 
true. The sense of nationality that, in such countries 
as England and France, fused all parties into a single 
will for the whole duration of the war, unfortunately 
suffered manifest disintegration among us Germans 
by reason of the multiplicity of party views which 
soon began to be active, and through which the idea 
of a party truce was undermined and our vigor of at- 
tack weakened. Nor was it, by any means, only 
among the parties of the left that such sins were com- 
mitted against the great idea of unselfish patriotism. 
By leaving to the war speculator unlimited indepen- 
dence and unbounded opportunities of profit and by 
not organizing properly the industries essential to 
the existence of the struggling State, our mistaken 
economic policy was responsible for the early reap- 
pearance of the old social and economic animosities 
which soon became very bitter. Moreover, an abso- 
lutely morbid tendency to a mistaken objectivity 
at all cost repeatedly drove a large portion of our 
German people, even during the war, into extensive 
discussions and to self-examination that bordered 
upon mental chastisement. This was done openly 
before the whole world, and ultimately made the 



180 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

world believe that the conscientious amongst us 
doubted the justice of our deeds and aims. In Eng- 
land, all parties had only one principle for every pro- 
gramme and every action of their Government, the 
strong principle of a firmly established nation, the 
principle of "right or wrong — my country." 

A miserable hero of such mistaken objectivity, a 
man in whose heart the bright flame of the greater 
idea could never blaze up, was the first war chan- 
cellor. His Reichstag declaration on August 4, 
1914, concerning our advance into Belgium, is the 
great and bitter classic example of his incapacity 
to understand either the soul of his own people or 
the mentality of our adversaries. On that 4th of 
August, 1914, before a single shot had been fired over 
yonder, we Germans had lost the first great battle in 
the eyes of the world. 

And blind he remained to all the events and de- 
velopments around him throughout the long years 
of the war during which we had to put up with him. 

Thus, he stressed again and again the special 
merits, as he called them, of the social-democratic 
party in offering to co-operate at the outset of the 
war. As though, at that time, the working masses 
would not simply have swept away their leaders if 
they had dared to express themselves against co- 
operation ! At that moment, the entire German peo- 
ple were unanimous in their deep conviction that we 
were on the threshold of a war forced upon us, of an 



STRESS AND STORM 181 

inevitable war from which we could be delivered only 
by resolutely and victoriously struggling through to 
an assured peace. That many a leader of the ex- 
treme left never in his heart of hearts desired a com- 
plete German victory seems to have remained long 
hidden from the chancellor's perception. At any 
rate, he did nothing to combat their efforts to under- 
mine the confidence of the masses in the German 
cause. 

General Ludendorff complains bitterly in his war 
memoirs that the Government at home did scarcely 
anything to keep alive the "will to victory" in the 
German people, or to combat energetically the ten- 
dency to defaitisme. I, too, could not resist the im- 
pression that, during the war, the proper authori- 
ties permitted these tendenices to grow without 
adopting any energetic counter measures. Defait- 
isme, which, regardless of every other consideration, 
was rigorously crushed in France, England and Amer- 
ica, as a principle adverse to the necessities of the 
hour and opposed to the interests of the State, was 
allowed to run riot with us. Our Government was 
powerless to cope with it, yet believed itself able to 
silence and neutralize anti-national conduct by weak 
indulgence. Nervelessly they let things take their 
course, seemingly disinclined to picture to themselves 
the fatal end to which, sooner or later, it all must 
lead. 

Wherever difficulties and impediments arose, re- 



182 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

course was had to small remedies, to half-measures, 
to extravagant concessions flung down with both 
hands or to compliance that was hesitating and be- 
lated. They made shift with patchwork until no more 
patching was possible and everything fell to pieces. 
Civil dictators, conscious of their road and with 
eyes fixed on victory, like Clemenceau and Lloyd 
George, were utterly lacking with us. The longer 
the war lasted, the more autocratic and severe be- 
came the governments of the hostile countries and 
the more vacillating and yielding our own. — ^The 
munition workers at home were given fabulous wages 
to keep them in a good temper. The only effect was 
that their cupidity was enhanced, a higher premium 
put upon shirking, the soldier at the front irritated 
and deprived of his willingness to fight. Why was 
not every calling of importance to the war made 
compulsory? Why were not those levied for work 
at home placed in the same category as to wages and 
rations as those under the colors? People talk ad 
nauseum of the dutiful home warriors ! "War" em- 
ployer and "war" employee ought both to have been 
compassed by the organization of "war" industry. 

For the organization of industry at home, the 
Auxiliary Service Act (Hilfsdienstgesetz) was ulti- 
mately adopted. But it was due to the initiative of 
the Higher Command, whose business it was not; 
and when it came, what a maimed creature it was ! 

Irresolute and somewhat unfortunate was like- 



STRESS AND STORM 183 

wise the attitude of the Government towards the 
problem of the Prussian suffrage question during the 
war. The social democrats, making a slogan of the 
idea, conducted vigorous propaganda and — ^while our 
armies were engaged in the severest struggles and 
their welfare depended upon the smooth working of 
the industrial mechanism at home — even did not 
hesitate to throw out threats of a strike. 

Two courses were open to the Government. One 
was to say that wartime was unsuitable for deal- 
ing with changes of the constitution, especially as 
the best part of the people were then under arms 
at the front and consequently unable to co-operate 
in the reorganization; but then it would have 
had to pull itself together and ruthlessly repress 
every agitation aimed in a different direction. The 
other course was for the Government to decide 
upon a revision of the Suffrage Act, but in that case 
it ought not to have hesitated to arrange for a speedy 
dissolution of the House of Deputies, and should have 
resorted to every possible means to carry out its 
purpose. 

The Government once more adopted the fatal 
method of half-measures. 

When His Excellency, von Valentini, the chef du 
cabinet civil, brought me the so-called ** Easter mes- 
sage" in 1917, I expressed to him my astonishment 
at this patchwork, and pointed out to him that such 
a decree would satisfy nobody, that, in a short time, 



184 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

the Government would be forced to grant direct 
suffrage, and it would be better to do it straight- 
away as a spontaneous act of His Majesty. Val- 
entini replied: "The direct secret ballot is out of 
the question; what is proposed is a plurality vote 
similar to the Belgian arrangement." Count von 
der Schulenburg, chief of the General Staff of my 
army, was present at this conversation. 

August, 1920. 

Since I last had these sheets in my hand, our 
parents and we children have suffered a heavy blow: 
my brother Joachim, utterly broken down, has 
passed out of this life. Immediately on receipt of 
the news, I travelled to Doom, in order to be with 
my mother in, at any rate, the first and severest 
hours of her sorrow. What a deal of suffering des- 
tiny has heaped upon this poor and sick maternal 
heart. 

At the beginning of the month, my brother Oscar, 
who had arrived at Doom just after me, came to 
see me here on the island. Eitel Friedrich was also 
here; and so, little by little, they are all making ac- 
quaintance with the small plot of earth on which I 
have lived for over 20 months. I can imagine that, 
when they happen to have good weather here for 
their short stay, the place will not seem so very 
dreadful to them. It was a great pleasure to me to 
receive a visit from my old and tmsted Maltzahn, 



STRESS AND STORM 185 

who, when he came to see us at the front, shared 
with me many an anxiety concerning our internal 
situation. At the end of the month, my wife is to 
come here again — this time with all four boys. 

In these personal recollections of mine, I feel im- 
pelled to say a few words about the two men whose 
names personify, for the whole German people, their 
idea of military leadership, namely Field-Marshal 
von Hindenburg and his first quartermaster-gen- 
eral, General Ludendorff. 

It is superfluous to say much here of what our 
country owes to these two men. Suffice it to call 
to mind the great victories at Tannenberg and at 
the Masurian Lakes. At that time, the names of 
these two were in everybody's mouth, and both at 
home and at the front arose the wish that the lead- 
ership of the entire German army might be placed 
in their hands. We commanders-in-chief shared 
fully this general desire to see Hindenburg and 
Ludendorff in the most responsible positions, and 
we received, with joy and hope, the ultimate de- 
cision of His Majesty to place them there. Never 
have I seen any other two men of such different 
character complement one another to form a single 
entity as did these two. In all questions that arose 
during their period of co-operation, the weal of the 
Fatherland and the happiness and honor of the 
army were, for them, the common basis for their 
deliberations, their plans and their resolutions. 



186 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

If I were to characterize the field-marshal general 
as he appeared to me in the years of his zenith, 
I would say that the greatest impression was made 
by the simple energy and composure of his self- 
contained personality. It was a composure that 
communicated itself to every one who came into 
contact with him, convinced every one that the fate 
of the armies was well cared for in that calm, firm 
hand, watched over by those earnest and yet ever- 
friendly eyes. If he spoke, the effect was height- 
ened: one was then impressed not merely by the 
statuesqueness of his tall, broad-shouldered figure, 
but by the depth and timbre of his voice and the 
fluency of his measured, thoughtful and deliberate 
speech; the conviction was confirmed that the 
speaker was absolute master of the situation and 
expressed views that could be thoroughly relied on. 

This feeling was not confined to the individual ad- 
dressed, it extended to the masses when the field- 
marshal general appeared before them. Further- 
more, a scarcely definable peculiarity of manner 
seemed to efface the dividing-line between his pro- 
fessional and his human interest in people, problems 
and things. 

The great and emancipating victories in the East 
were soon invested with almost mythical features; 
with these as a background, Hindenburg's personal- 
ity became, for people and army, a symbol of German 
victory and of rescue from the exigencies of war. 



STRESS AND STORM 187 

That unrevealed something, which largely has its 
roots in the judgment of the heart and the feeling, 
which creates the hero for the multitude and which 
never appeared in such men as Falkenhayn or Lu- 
dendorff, soon fashioned a halo about Hindenburg 
and made him the ideal leader in the eyes of the Ger- 
mans. At home and at the front, I have heard this 
confidence, so touching in its primitive simplicity, 
expressed over and over again in the words: **Our 
old Hindenburg'U manage it"; the utterance was, 
as it were, a refuge from the pressure of the time, 
and remained so later, when, for us leaders, who had 
long since been stripped of our optimism by our 
knowledge of the true state of affairs, the only reply 
possible was dead silence. 

Even more now than during the war, there is a 
very wide-spread belief that, as field-marshal gen- 
eral, Hindenburg played little more than a decora- 
tive part beside General Ludendorff, who has been 
regarded as the real spiritus rector of the Higher 
Command. My insight into the admirable rela- 
tions between these two leaders fully justifies me in 
characterizing such a view as mistaken; in no case 
could it be said of the era in which the field-marshal 
general was in unimpaired enjoyment of his physical 
strength and energy. That even a Hindenburg — 
who, though in full possession of his mental and 
bodily vigor, was nearly sixty-seven years old when 
he entered the campaign — could not help feeling 



188 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

the effects of his increasing age after three or four 
years of excessive work, worry and responsibility 
may be safely asserted without fear of detracting 
in any way from the imperishable services of this 
venerable commander and estimable man. As, in 
the course of time, some relief became necessary, the 
indefatigable energy of the so much younger friend 
and close collaborator took over a portion of the 
burden; and their admirable unity remained a strong 
and resolute will without any bargaining about the 
intellectual share of each. How much aid Hinden- 
burg received from his comrade became bitterly 
evident when the unity was broken by the retire- 
ment of Ludendorff, and his place was filled by one 
whose inadequacy despaired all too soon at the 
thought of keeping the leaky ship above water and 
bringing it safely to port through all storms and 
with its old flag still flying. The character of this 
new man was such that he struck the flag with an 
indifferent shrug just as coolly as he flung away as 
empty "ideas" the things that till then had been 
sacred to the German people; the energies of the 
same successor exerted in a different direction be- 
came the strongest shaping forces of the peculiar 
development of the events of November in the Great 
Headquarters at Spa. 

Owing to the nature of my tasks and duties, I 
came much more into contact with General Luden- 
dorff than with the field-marshal general. I can 



STRESS AND STORM 189 

conscientiously say that I always felt a strong sense 
of being in the presence of a personality of steely 
energy and keenly sharpened intellect, of a Prussian 
leader of the traditional glorious type in the best 
sense of the term. In his bright office-room, in which 
were focussed the rays from every front of the foe- 
girt Fatherland, I have, on countless occasions, dis- 
cussed with him the questions and problems of the 
war and especially the situation of my own troops. 
Whereas, on the one hand, in talks with the field- 
marshal general, one felt, as I have already hinted, 
that his grave and easy speech was the outcome of 
the deepest assurance, on the other hand, one seemed, 
in conversation with General Ludendorff, to be in 
the glittering workshop where only the greatest 
mental wrestling succeeded in regaining this assur- 
ance from day to day by an unceasing struggle with 
untold antagonisms, hostile principles, obstacles, 
difficulties and shortcomings of every kind. 

It has already been stated that this mass of af- 
fairs brought before him for settlement tasks and 
problems which did not properly belong within the 
traditional scope of his post. He took them upon 
himself because their solution was of the greatest 
significance for the military situation and because 
without his intervention they would have remained 
undealt with. Successful and deserving of thanks as 
many of his performances in these domains that lay 
outside his own proper sphere certainly appear to 



190 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

me, still, I believe I may say, without in any way 
giving a wrong impression of his strong personality, 
that his essential importance and greatness lay in 
the provinces of strategy, tactics and organization. 
In these fields and so long as the troops and material 
lay intact in his hands, his brilliant mastery of the 
whole theory of war, his wealth of ideas and mar- 
vellously exact intellect solved with astounding cer- 
tainty military problems of the most difficult char- 
acter and won for him and for the German arms im- 
perishable fame. His keen and complete analysis 
of a situation, his unfailing conversion of theory into 
command and act, his accurate knowledge of the 
value of the forces employed, with which he could 
reckon as though they were invariable mathematical 
quantities — all these things contributed to win for 
him the great victories at Tannenberg, Lodz and 
the Masurian Lakes. Afterwards, when he had 
taken over the gigantic tasks of the Higher Com- 
mand, they secured him successes in imperishable 
strategic significance during the struggle for the 
German Line down to the spring of 1918 — successes 
whose lustre is perhaps still dimmed by the lack of 
ultimate effect and the shadow of the miscarriage in 
the final combat, but which the verdict of the future 
will unquestionably range with the greatest military 
performances of all time. 

His great and bold ideas were only impaired when 
the units which he fitted into his structure were no 



STRESS AND STORM 191 

longer capable of satisfying the demands which, ac- 
cording to tradition, he believed himself justified in 
making upon the troops — when the normally ac- 
cepted fighting value of the units became subject to 
the ups and downs, produced by physical and psy- 
chical influence, and the uncertainty and friability 
of the material introduced factors which caused ir- 
remediable errors in the calculations of the machine. 
The successful designer of battles and calculator of 
victories, who, ever since he led his first men as a 
little lieutenant, had been accustomed to regard the 
concepts of discipline, punctuality and fighting 
courage as things of iron-like rigidity, the prac- 
tised strategist, who, ever since he first donned 
red-striped trousers as a young officer of the Gen- 
eral Staff, had combined with the idea of a battery 
or a division definite striking values and calculable 
effects, now suddenly saw himself compelled to 
query all these notions. Enterprises which, assum- 
ing the reliability of the individual factors, bore ev- 
ery promise of success, broke down in the execution 
because the machine, partly overstrained and partly 
rusty, failed to perform its task. The last German 
attacks, /. e., from March 21, 1918, down to the de- 
cisive turning-point of the war — the irruption of the 
enemy at the Forest of Villers-Cotterets on July 18 
— were, notwithstanding some brilliant initial suc- 
cesses, nothing but a series of bitter examples of this 
fact. 



192 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

Both as a man and as a soldier, General Luden- 
dorff suffered severely under these conditions and 
bore them with a heavy heart. Like, doubtless, 
every other commander, I sympathized with him in 
this torture. All of us, who had passed through the 
iron school of the grand old army and had breathed 
the air of the Military Academy in Konigsplatz, had 
been equipped in that famous building with the 
firmest confidence in the unflinchingness of the 
great army which was the embodiment of the 
strength and pride of the German people; and this 
palladium we now saw tottering. 

For my part, I had, at an early period, been un- 
able to shut my eyes to these cracks, rents and 
flaws; and I dutifully laid my observations and 
suggestions before the quartermaster-general. Even 
yet, when I recall those conversations, I am filled 
with gratitude by the remembrance of the friendli- 
ness and attention with which General Ludendorff 
listened to the views and wishes of one so much 
younger than himself, and did all he could to meet 
the demands which he recognized as justified. 

It is true that, especially in the later period of our 
increasing exhaustion of man-power, food-stuffs and 
war material, he was only too often obliged, with a 
resigned ultra posse, to decline what he would cer- 
tainly have gladly conceded had he been able. As 
I learned to know him in years of mutual labor for 
the same end, General Ludendorff was never a daz- 



STRESS AND STORM 193 

zler or a thruster. To his upright and stem sol- 
dierly character it would be as alien to seek the favor 
of individuals or to fear their disfavor as it would be 
to court the approval or dread the disapproval of 
the masses. For his decisions he knew only one cri- 
terion; that was their practical fitness for the attain- 
ment of his great aim; and that one aim was to carry 
the Central Powers, and especially Germany, out 
of the war into a firm peace which would leave us 
room and light for our further natural development. 
With absolutely passionate devotion and creative 
energy, he threw the whole of his abundant per- 
sonality into the accomplishment of his military 
tasks, never seeing in this immense self-sacrifice 
anything more than the fulfilment of the obvious 
duty owed to the Fatherland by every German, 
whether civilian or soldier. This admirable and 
robust conception of duty and of faithful perse- 
verance, coupled with a high estimate of the inher- 
ent moral worth of the German at the front and 
the German at home, inclined him, particularly in 
the last periods of the war, to assume and presuppose 
such vigor and virtue as a reliable basis for military 
operations and for demands upon the homeland, 
even when privations and disappointments as well 
as disintegrating influences and anti-moral forces 
had already enfeebled and corroded the original 
soundness. Filled by the strongest sense of na- 
tional honor, he found it bitter to have to believe 



194 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

in the decay of this vigorous moral stamina of the 
German people, when no eye could any longer re- 
main closed to the painful fact. For a long time he 
refused to recognize the reality of the situation, and 
wrestled to preserve within himself the proud image 
of the German immutably true to Kaiser and empire. 
This high estimation of the masses caused him for a 
long time to regard the disintegrating forces as 
merely pernicious, exceptional phenomena; it was 
also, perhaps, the ultimate reason of his attention 
being turned so late to the agitators and their vic- 
tims — too late, indeed, for any energetic action to 
be taken. In regard to the moral fighting value and 
physical capacity of the troops, which constituted 
the most important factors in calculating the 
chances of an early and fortunate conclusion of the 
war, our views differed more and more as time went 
on and the gap became very wide in the latter half 
of the war. Nor would I conceal my opinion that, 
in the choice of his immediate co-operators. General 
Ludendorff was not always happy, nor always open 
to representations as to the incompetency of such 
individuals or willing to consider statements which 
ran counter to their reports. Severe views of fidel- 
ity towards painstaking subordinates who gave him 
the best assistance of which they were capable in- 
duced him to leave posts inadequately filled for a 
longer time than was consistent with the best in- 
terests of public affairs. 



I 



STRESS AND STORM 195 

While anything but an uncritical upholder of 
General Ludendorff' s views or a mute admirer of all 
his acts, I nevertheless account him to be a surpass- 
ingly great German commander, characterized by 
the strongest patriotic energy and faithfulness — a 
man who stood at the head of the German army like 
a symbol of its traditions and of its conscience. 
For his enemies to feature him as a "gambler" and 
" hasardeur" is to circulate an untruth. Would to 
God we had had, among the political leaders of the 
realm, experts of equal capacity, of equally thorough 
deliberation and equally conscientious daring; would 
to God it had remained possible for each and every 
individual to turn to good account all his energies 
in the sphere of his own most special calling. 

In the chapter on Rome in Count York von 
Wartenburg's " Weltgeschichte in Umrissen," which 
I have recently been reading, I came across a pas- 
sage the other day concerning the Battle of Cannae 
and steadfastness in defeat which has imprinted it- 
self upon my memory as particularly applicable to 
our own times. Referring to epochs subsequent to 
the days of Rome, York speaks of the disgraceful 
manner in which the Prussian people heaped con- 
tempt and contumely upon the army for having suf- 
fered defeat at Jena when **it was neither the only 
culprit nor even the principal one . ' ' Farther he says : 
— "If a people wishes to survive victoriously a 
Cannae, it must never lose completely its regard for 
its leaders and its standard." 



196 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

From the bottom of my heart I wish for the 
resurrection and the new greatness of our German 
Fatherland and its people. But only when the 
vast multitude, now blinded by the ranting agita- 
tion of false prophets, has recovered its vision for 
past greatness will it be able to understand and 
appreciate the old that was and to labor indomi- 
tably for the new that is some day to be. 



CHAPTER V 

PROGRESS OF THE WAR 

October, 1920. 
At the beginning of the month I spent a few days 
on the mainland. I had to visit a dentist in Over- 
veen named Schaefer. I could never have believed 
it possible for any one to enjoy so much the modest 
little pleasures which a dentist can provide with all 
his small instruments of torture. I felt thoroughly 
comfortable as I leaned back in his swivel-chair — 
rather different sort of furniture from our Wieringen 
appointments. The trip was the first interruption 
for a long time to the persistent quiet and solitude 
of the island; and just at present, when the advance 
of autumn is robbing the drab landscape of its last 
few charms and the equinoctial gales are beginning 
to rage, it helped me to surmount the prospect of 
another long, hard and sombre winter in this seclu- 
sion and in the restricted accommodation of this 
little dwelling, so far from my home and my loved 
ones. Moreover, in Schaefer's delightful little villa 
near Haarlem, we found high-minded, amiable and 
well-educated people whose hospitality it was a 
pleasure to enjoy. On the way back, we called at 

Burgomaster Peereboom's and spent an hour or two 

197 



198 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

with that old friend, who now lives at Bergen, his 
place at Wieringen having been taken by the equally 
excellent and ever-helpful Mr. Kolff. This new 
Burgomaster and his wife, who is of German origin, 
do everything in their power to render my life more 
bearable. 

Among the letters from home which awaited me 
on my return, was one from a war comrade. It 
spoke of a hundred matters and touched upon the 
silly twaddle that is circulating among those who 
know more than anybody else in the world about 
my activities as commander of the Fifth Army. So, 
then, I am said to be answerable for the disastrous 
retreat ordered by the Higher Command after the 
Battle of the Mame in the year 1914. These exces- 
sively clever people know that with unerring cer- 
tainty. Perhaps, therefore, it will not be altogether 
out of place if I state what I know of this battle 
that formed the turning-point of our destiny — more 
particularly, since what has so far been said on the 
subject by serious and critical observers tells very 
little concerning the events of the Fifth, Sixth and 
Seventh Armies. 

What I intend to write here is not a description 
of the military developments and the operations of 
my Fifth Army in those bitter days ; for that I have 
made other arrangements; I propose here only to 
sketch in broad outline the circumstances which, at 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 199 

that time, led the German army to desist from its 
victorious advance and to start a tragic retreat. 
The blame mine? Only mean malice could invent 
such an idea, only unbounded stupidity could be- 
lieve it ! 

As commander-in-chief of the Fifth Army, I led 
the advance of my army in August, 1914 ; I saw the 
decisions and notices that were issued and was 
present at the scanty discussions with the General 
Higher Command and with the adjacent armies; 
finally, I had the best of opportunities to watch and 
study hour by hour the development of affairs dur- 
ing the Battle of the Mame. My impression is that 
it was an unfortunate combination of many circum- 
stances that led to this pernicious result. Besides 
the unquestionable incompetence and the consequent 
moral and physical collapse of General von Moltke, 
there was the unfortunate and rapidly discouraged 
leadership of the Second Army by General von 
Billow, and the absolutely disastrous activity of an 
officer of the Headquarters Staff, who, oppressed by 
a sense of responsibility and personal pessimism, 
assumed a verbal order given to meet a particular 
emergency, as conferring full powers upon him, and 
so occasioned a retreat of the two victorious armies 
on the wings before a decision had been reached. 

Whenever I think of the senseless and incompre- 
hensible flinging away of the successes gained at 
that time, whenever all the horror of that insensate 



200 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

folly comes before me, I see the tragic figure of a 
man who ought to have led, but who was no leader, 
and who broke down when the rising pressure of 
events broke down the traditional scheme: that fig- 
ure is the figure of Lieutenant-General von Moltke. 
I knew the general well, I sincerely revered him as a 
man, and I feel deeply the tragedy of a fate which, 
in its purely human features, seems to me to have a 
certain intrinsic resemblance to the fate of the im- 
fortunate Austrian, Benedik. General Moltke was 
a thoroughly high-minded man and a devoted friend 
of my father's. When, on the urgent recommenda- 
tion of his most intimate advisers, the Kaiser, in 
1906, called him to the chief position in the General 
Staff, von Moltke earnestly begged His Majesty to 
excuse him as he did not feel competent to fill the 
post. When, however, the Kaiser insisted upon his 
decision, the Prussian officer obeyed. He subse- 
quently endeavored, with inexhaustible diligence, 
to master the enormous detail of the work of the 
General Staff. There was something shy in his 
character; he seemed occasionally to have but little 
confidence in himself, and so he soon became totally 
dependent upon his collaborators. The great per- 
sonal amiability and ardent human cordiality which 
he possessed made it difficult for him to gain that 
authority which is so essential to the chief of a Gen- 
eral Staff. During my service with that staff, it 
was mentioned to me as typical that even the quar- 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 201 

termasters-general used to report to the old and in- 
exorable Schlieffen with a certain feeling of nervous- 
ness, whereas everybody liked appearing before 
General von Moltke. 

General von Moltke was never a robust man. 
When the war broke out, he had just completed two 
drastic cures at Carlsbad. He entered the war as a 
sick man. The direction of the various armies by 
the chief of the general staff was a very loose one. 
His headquarters in Luxembourg were much too far 
removed from the scene of battle; and, at such a 
distance, he could not follow events with the neces- 
sary accuracy — could not supervise them with the 
necessary clearness; possibly, too, the eye for the 
essential and the requisite rapidity of resolve failed 
him at the crucial moments of the battle. In any 
case, the great imperfections of communication at 
that time gave rise to difficulties, so that there was 
occasionally a complete lack of connection with the 
advancing army. This destroyed the unity of lead- 
ership; ultimately, the armies, when they had once 
started their advance and knew their road, waged 
war more or less independently, each communicating 
with its neighbor as occasion required. Immediately 
after the Battle of Longwy, I was called to the Great 
Headquarters in Luxembourg. I took the oppor- 
tunity of talking quite unequivocally with Moltke's 
right-hand man, Lieutenant-Colonel Tappen, con- 
cerning the loose control of the armies by the Higher 



202 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

Command, and I demanded the appointment of per- 
manent liaison officers between the General Higher 
Command and the Higher Command of each army. 
The proposal was smilingly shelved with the remark 
that no change was necessary as everything was 
working excellently as it was. 

When the situation of the First and Second Armies 
became acute, the chief of the general staff sent 
Lieutenant-Colonel Hentsch as intelligence officer of 
the General Higher Command on a tour of inspection 
to the Higher Command in each army. As General 
von Kuhl once told me, the decision as to the course 
the battle was to take was laid in his hands. 

At the beginning of his tour, Hentsch appeared 
first at Varennes in the Higher Command of the 
Fifth Army on the afternoon of September 8. He 
gave us a sketch of the entire situation as far as it 
was known in Luxembourg. For a cool and impar- 
tial judge, these details constituted anything but 
an unsatisfactory picture, although truly it was 
clear that the hitherto rapid and victorious advance 
had come to a standstill. On leaving us, Hentsch 
proceeded along the whole front to obtain a per- 
sonal opinion concerning the Fourth, Third, Second 
and First Armies. Here began the unfortunate in- 
fluences at which I have already hinted. Quite pos- 
sibly, Hentsch really did receive some very bad im- 
pressions, especially from the Higher Command of 
the Second Army; maybe his nerves gave way; at 
any rate, instead of encouraging the Higher Com- 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 203 

mand of the Second Army to unflinching resistance, 
he agreed to their retreating. The description which 
he gave of the dissolution of the Second Army and 
the use made of his supposed authority to order the 
retreat of the armies ultimately induced the First 
Army to fall back upon Soissons, though it did so 
with great reluctance and only because it had itself 
lost direct touch with the Second Army. 

In these critical days of Hentsch activity, my 
Higher Command attacked without success along 
the line Vavincourt — Rembercourt — ^Beauzee and 
St. Andre, and prepared a night attack for Septem- 
ber 10, whose object was to procure us more free- 
dom of action, since we were closely confined be- 
tween Verdun and the trackless Argonne region. 
The General Higher Command, which had mani- 
festly been more and more disquieted by Hentsch' s 
reports, at first disapproved of this plan for a night 
attack, in which the Thirteenth Army Corps (with 
the Twelfth Cavalry Division) and the Sixteenth 
Army Corps were to participate; however, after re- 
peated representations had been made, permission 
was finally given. 

The attempt was therefore promptly undertaken 
and succeeded brilliantly. The army gained the 
line Louppy le Petit to the east of the Rembercourt 
heights, and the northeast of Courcelles-Souilly; 
Sarrail's army giving way to the extent of about 20 
kilometres. 

On this 10th of September, Lieutenant-Colonel 



204 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

Hentsch returned via Varennes from his tour. 
Since he had first visited us, his view of the general 
situation had become pronouncedly pessimistic. He 
expressed himself hopeless as to the condition of the 
right wing, and demanded from me the immediate 
withdrawal of the Fifth Army. From his description, 
the First and Second Armies were now only fleeing 
remnants; the Third Army was maintaining itself 
with difficulty; the Fourth was in passable order. 

I told Lieutenant-Colonel Hentsch that an im- 
mediate retreat of the Fifth Army was out of the 
question, since neither the general situation nor the 
position of the army imperatively called for it; 
further, that before the idea could be even enter- 
tained, the removal of all my wounded from the ter- 
ritory just gained would have to be assured. As 
Hentsch, despite these objections, became importu- 
nate, I asked him for his written authorization. He 
could produce none; and I thereupon informed him 
that we were not in a position to comply with his 
wishes. 

With the retreat from the Mame, Schlieffen's 
great plan was frustrated. It was based on the 
rapid subjection of France. I shall never forget 
the terrible impression made upon me on Septem- 
ber 11 by the sudden appearance in my Varennes 
and Argonne Headquarters of General von Moltke, 
accompanied by Lieutenant-Colonel Tappen. The 
general was completely broken down, and was liter- 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 205 

ally struggling to repress his tears. According to his 
impressions, the entire German army had been de- 
feated and was being rapidly and unceasingly rolled 
back. He explained that he did not yet know where 
this retreat could be brought to a standstill. How 
he had formed such a senseless conception was for 
us, at that time, beyond comprehension. 

He was astonished at the calm and confident view 
of the situation taken by the Higher Command of 
the Fifth Army. But he was not to be converted 
to a more optimistic opinion, and he demanded — 
as Hentsch had done the day before — the instant 
withdrawal of my army. As no imperative reasons 
for such a hasty step were even now perceptible, a 
lively controversy ensued which ended in my de- 
claring that so long as I was commander-in-chief of 
my army, I bore the responsibility for that army 
and that I could not agree to an immediate with- 
drawal on account of the necessary removal and 
proper transport of my wounded. With tears in 
his eyes, General von Moltke left us. From a hu- 
man standpoint I felt the deepest sympathy with 
the utterly crushed man, but, as a soldier and leader, 
I was unable to understand such a physical break- 
down. 

During the afternoon of September 11, Colonel 
von Dommes brought me the further instructions of 
the General Higher Command. My army was to 
fall back to the district east of St. Menehould. 



206 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

The colonel suggested retaining the southern edge 
of the Forest of Argonne. The Higher Command 
of the Fifth Army decided, however, to go as far 
back northward as the line Apremont — Bauluy — 
Montfaucon — Gercourt, since it did not appear ad- 
visable to remain ahead of the army (already re- 
treating in compliance with the orders of the Gen- 
eral Higher Command), especially as the liberated 
enemy forces were now in a position to advance 
from Verdun in any desired direction and thus 
threaten, not only the communications of the 
Fifth Army, but also those of the entire western 
army. 

Only after the removal of all its wounded did the 
Fifth Army withdraw. The retreat was carried out 
in perfect order from the 12th to the 15th of Sep- 
tember and the new positions were taken up with 
a strong sense of superiority. There was no moles- 
tation on the part of the enemy; Sarrail did not 
dare to attack us; and if he had, it would have been 
a bad thing for him. From the heights just to the 
north of Varennes, I watched the rear of the Thir- 
teenth and Sixteenth Corps leave their trenches, and 
I can assert that, save for some cavalry patrols, no 
enemy forces followed our troops anywhere. 

In the course of the war I had the opportunity of 
talking over, with hundreds of officers of all grades, 
and with hundreds of the rank and file, the fatal 
incidents of the First Battle of the Mame. What I 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 207 

heard was always the same: we had completely re- 
pulsed the French counter-attacks and had success- 
fully reattacked ourselves, when the incomprehen- 
sible orders to retreat arrived. 

My brother Eitel Fritz commanded at that time 
the First Regiment of Guards. Later on, he de- 
scribed the day to me with honest wrath. "We 
were in full assault upon the French position," he 
said, "after having repulsed various French counter- 
attacks. Our men were, it is true, very fatigued; 
but they advanced courageously and determinedly. 
Everywhere the French were to be seen in full flight. 
We had victory in our hands, when suddenly an 
orderly officer appeared with that damned order to 
stop the attack at once and start the march back." 
He told me that it was the most agonizing experience 
of his life to have to go back with his brave men over 
the road that they had won with such severe strug- 
gle, and to see the wounded who were now certain 
to fall into captivity. Our famous grenadiers re- 
fused to believe it all and kept on asking: "Why 
must we fall back? We have beaten the French !" 

And they were right. The German army was 
not defeated at the Mame; it was withdrawn by its 
leaders. The battle was lost because the Highest 
Command gave it up as lost; in spite of the numerical 
superiority of the enemy — in the ratio of two to 
one — that Highest Command might have led its 
armies to victory, if it had clearly perceived the 



208 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

situation and had acted adequately and resolutely. 

It is not post factum wisdom, but the expression 
of a view borne in upon me at the time, when I say 
that, by a vigorous condensation of our right wing 
for united action and by strengthening it with easily 
possible reinforcements from the left wing, a dis- 
persal of the threatening danger might have been 
achieved without any serious difficulty. 

General von Moltke I saw only once afterwards. 
It was in the headquarters at Charleville. He had 
already been removed from his command; I found 
him aged by years; he was poring over the maps in 
a little room of the prefecture — a bent and broken 
man. The sight was most touching; words seemed 
impossible and out of place; a pressure of the hand 
said all that I could say. 

I was told later, on credible authority, that the 
unfortunate man sank into a morbid search after 
the reasons for his ill fate, that he tried to dis- 
cover exonerations and justifications for his failure 
and lost himself in all manner of unfruitful mysti- 
cism. 

In the end he died at Berlin of a broken heart. 
With him passed away a real Prussian officer and a 
high-minded nobleman. That he was faced with 
a task which exceeded his capacity, that, with a 
mistaken sense of duty, he undertook it against his 
will and conscious of his own inadequacy, proved 
fatal to him and to us. 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 209 

End of October, 1920. 

In this second half of this month, I have been 
over to the mainland again. It was on the 22d, 
the anniversary of my mother's birthday. — They 
were quiet, sad days in Doom; for it cannot escape 
the eye of any one who loves her that my mother's 
strength is waning, that sorrow is eating her up. 
The wound made in her maternal heart by the death 
of my brother Joachim has never healed; he was the 
weakest of us boys and claimed a greater share of 
her motherly care. 

On the birthday itself, she had to keep her bed. 
I could only sit beside her, hold her small hand in 
mine and talk to her. I told her a number of amus- 
ing and harmless little anecdotes concerning my 
island household; and it was a pleasure to see a 
faint smile light up her kind features every now and 
then; but it was only a short flicker of sunshine, that 
was gone again almost instantly. And when she is 
up and walks through the rooms and her tired eyes 
wander caressingly over all the old furniture and 
mementos of her Berlin and Potsdam days, it is as 
though she were bidding them all a silent farewell. 

My uncle, Prince Henry, was also at Doom, and 
came over to Wieringen for a day on his way back. 

Miildner is to make another trip home in Novem- 
ber to hear and see how things stand. These jour- 
neys of his make me feel like Father Noah **who 
sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters 



210 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

were abated from off the face of the ground." When ! 
will he return with the olive branch? 

Our old friend, the ever faithful and helpful Jena, 
is to take his place while he is gone, and to keep 
me and my two dogs and my cat company. 

A few weeks ago, I endeavored, in these sheets, to 
refute the silly twaddle which connects my name 
with our failure at the Battle of the Mame. I 
should like now to dissipate a second fable. 

Among the many untruths disseminated about 
me by spite or stupidity, is the assertion that I am 
answerable for the losses at Verdun and the ultimate 
failure there. The persistence with which this 
legend crops up again and again makes an explana- 
tion of the facts necessary. 

The order to attack Verdun naturally did not 
proceed from me; it originated in a decision of the 
General Higher Command. The intention and the 
G. H. C.'s reasons for the enterprise find expression 
in a report to the Kaiser by General von Falken- 
hayn, as head of the commander-in-chief's General 
Staff, at Christmas, 1915. This report contains the 
following passage: — ** Behind the French section of 
the western front, there are, within range, objects 
for whose retention the French are compelled to risk 
their last man. If they do so, the French forces, 
since there is no option, will be bled white, whether 
we reach our objective or not. If the French do 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 211 

not risk everything, and the objective falls into our 
hands, the moral effects upon France will be enor- 
mous. For this local operation, Germany will not 
be forced to expose seriously her other fronts. She 
can confidently face the divertive attacks to be ex- 
pected at other points, nay, she may hope to spare 
troops enough to meet them with counter-attacks." 
Soon afterwards, the General Higher Command 
issued orders for the advance on Verdun. The 
G. H. C. was unquestionably influenced by our nu- 
merical inferiority and the wish to anticipate an 
expected attack by the enemy with unenfeebled 
forces at some spot unsuitable to ourselves. British 
organization had by this time become effective; the 
French had been relieved. In the spring of 1916, 
the enemy troops in the west outnumbered our own 
by more than a million; according to General von 
Falkenhayn's own figures, the Germans totalled 
2,350,000 against 3,470,000 of the Entente, and we 
were also vastly out-munitioned. 

In judging of the plan, the Higher Command of 
the Fifth Army took the view that both sides of the 
Meuse must be attacked simultaneously and with 
strong forces. Such a proceeding was vetoed by 
the General Higher Command. The attack on the 
east bank only was carried out under the direct in- 
structions of the G. H. C; and it would probably 
have succeeded but for the intervention of un- 
toward circumstances. 



212 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

The preparations for the attack had quite escaped 
the notice of the French. The concentration of the 
artillery had not been interfered with in any way; 
the attacking infantry had suffered scarcely any 
losses in the initial assault. Everything had been 
brilliantly prepared. Then, on the eve of the day 
originally selected for the attack, storms of rain 
and snow set in which prevented every possibility 
of the artillery seeing their objective. From day 
to day the attack had to be postponed, so that it 
actually took place 10 days later than originally 
arranged. The Higher Command of the Fifth 
Army passed an agonizing time; for, as things 
stood, every hour lost meant a diminution of our 
prospects of speedy success. As a matter of fact, 
in that period of waiting, our purpose was betrayed 
by two miserable rascals of the Landwehr who de- 
serted to the French. 

Nevertheless, it was no longer possible for our 
enemies to carry out their counter-measures quickly 
enough. The attack began on February 21, 1916; 
and the huge successes of the first three days are 
well known. The infantry of the Third, Eighteenth, 
and Seventh Reserve Corps performed marvels of 
courage. The taking of Fort Douaumont crowned 
everything. Indeed, we should, after all, have suc- 
ceeded in rushing the entire east front of Verdun, 
if the reserves promised us had arrived on time. 
Why they failed to do so is not within my knowl- 
edge. 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 213 

I was told by Captain von Brandis, who stormed 
Fort Douaumont, that, on the fourth day, he had 
observed a complete absence of Frenchmen in the 
whole district of Douaumont — ^Sonville — ^Tavannes. 
But our own troops had exhausted their strength; 
the weather was horrible, and rations could not 
everywhere be brought up as needed. That it 
would have been quite possible to take the entire 
east front of Verdim by at once continuing the 
attack is clear from the fact that the local lead- 
ers of the French had already ordered the evacua- 
tion. Only later was this order countermanded by 
General Joffre. But, from the statements and de- 
scriptions which I have recently seen in a report by 
a French officer who fought at Verdun, it is evident 
that, on the third day, the defense of the east front 
there was actually broken. Moreover, the great 
danger of the position for the French on February 
24 has been described by General Mangin in the 
Revue des Deux Mondes. 

The fatigue of our troops after a huge military 
performance and the lack of reserves despoiled us of 
the prize of victory. I bring no accusation; I merely 
record the fact. 

From that day onward, surprises were no longer 
possible; and the early, impetuous advances by 
storm gave place to a gigantic wrestle and struggle 
for every foot of ground. Within a few weeks, I 
perceived clearly that it would not be feasible to 



214 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

break through the stubborn defense, and that our 
own losses would ultimately be quite out of propor- 
tion to the gains. Consequently, I soon did every- 
thing in my power to stop the attacks; and I re- 
peatedly gave expression to my views and the de- 
ductions to be drawn from them. In this matter I 
stood somewhat opposed to my then chief of staff, 
General Schmidt von Knobelsdorf, and my rep- 
resentations were at first put aside; the orders ran 
"continue to attack." That, in consideration of the 
high moral values attaching to the continuance of 
the enterprise, a contrary opinion would have had to 
overcome enormous opposition, and that the G. H. 
Command was bound to look at the struggle for 
Verdun from a different standpoint than that of the 
Higher Command of the Fifth Army, must be un- 
conditionally conceded. Still, even looked at from 
that superior standpoint, I believe my suggestions 
to have been correct. 

When, later on, the situation became so acute 
that, in view of the futility of the sacrifices, I felt 
unable to sanction the continuation of the attack, 
I reported personally to the Kaiser and made written 
representations to the G. H. Command; whereupon 
the Kaiser adopted my view and granted the de- 
sired cessation of the attack. After the resigna- 
tion, on August 29, of General Falkenhayn, the head 
of the commander-in-chief's General Staff and of 
the Operation Department, the orders to cease at- 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 215 

tacking were issued by Field-Marshal General von 
Hindenburg on September 2, 1916, together with in- 
structions to convert into a permanent position the 
lines that had been reached. 

Regrettable as the final result may be, it should 
not be forgotten that, although the attack on Ver- 
dun cost us very heavy losses, the French suffered 
even more than we did. About seventy-five French 
divisions were battered to pieces in the devil's caul- 
dron of Verdun. Hence, the force of the French 
shock at the Somme was very greatly diminished by 
Verdun; and it is impossible to say what the effects 
of the Somme advance might have been had not the 
Battle of Verdun reduced and weakened the re- 
sources of France in men and in material. 

I feel that I cannot close my remarks concerning 
my attitude towards the struggle for Verdun with- 
out a reference to the cowardly and slanderous con- 
tumely cast upon me during the past two years by 
those German newspapers which prefer to make 
use of a cheap slogan rather than allow truth to 
prevail. 

Just during the last few days, I have read it once 
more: ''The Crown Prince, the laughing murderer 
of Verdun." 

Gall and wormwood in the little light left me on 
this island, which, for three hundred out of the 
three hundred and sixty-five days of the year, is 
wrapt in fog and storm. 



216 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

"The laughing murderer of Verdun!" So that's 
what I am, is it? One might almost come to be- 
lieve it true, after hearing the calumny so often. It 
cuts me to the quick, because it concerns what I 
had saved as my last imperishable possession out 
of the war and out of the collapse. It touches the 
unsoiled reminiscences of my relations to the troops 
intrusted to me; it touches the conviction that 
those men and I understood and trusted each other, 
that we had a right to believe in one another, be- 
cause each had given his best and done his best. 

What was to be told of Verdun and my part in 
the contest for the fortress I have already told. It 
remains for me to say something about my relations 
to the troops and about my laughter. 

It goes rather against the grain to say much 
concerning the former point. I will only mention 
that, in the untold fights which took place, I had 
grown as fond of my brave and sturdy troops as 
though they were my own children; and I did every- 
thing in my power to ensure them recreation, quiet, 
rations, care and rewards in so far as these were at 
all possible in the hard circumstances of the war. 
Whenever feasible — ^that is, whenever my duties 
permitted me to leave the Higher Command of my 
group for any length of time — I joined my fighting 
troops in the fire-zone to see with my own eyes how 
things stood; and, wherever it could be managed, I 
personally saw that something was done to relieve 
their hardships. 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 217 

In the Argonne it was the same as at Verdun or 
in the chalk-pits of Champagne; and, among the 
many hundreds of thousands who came under my 
command in the course of the terrible war, there 
can be very few indeed who did not see me in their 
sector. Therefore, I can dispense with many words, 
and boldly call upon all my brave officers, non- 
commissioned officers, and men of the old Fifth 
Army and my Army Group to testify to my rela- 
tions with them. The knowledge that they repaid 
my love with incomparable soldierly qualities, 
with fidelity and with courage, that they were per- 
sonally attached to me, is for me to-day a source of 
happiness that has remained to me out of the past, 
and that no thoughtless agitator shall destroy with 
his mendacious attacks. 

"The Crown Prince, the laughing murderer of 
Verdun!" So then, now for my laughter! Yea, 
truly, I was wont to laugh in my young years. I 
was never a moper or a stay-at-home. I was fond 
of laughter; for I found life joyous and bountiful, 
and laughter was for me, as it were, an expression 
of gratitude to destiny for letting me rejoice in my 
strength with freshness, health and faith. 

Even in the war, despite all its bitter trials, I 
never completely lost my capacity for laughter. 
Every one who went through it like a man must 
have experienced, in just the most terrible periods, 
the desire to be rid of all that unheard-of horror, of 



218 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

all that death and destruction, must have felt an 
almost greedy impulse towards every sensation and 
every assuring expression of this life that hangs 
between the present and the undoubtedly better 
hereafter. Thus, at that time also, I made no his- 
trionic mask of my face for the benefit of the re- 
cording public, but showed myself as I was. 

That, even at the time, at home and perhaps be- 
hind the lines, my laughter aroused censure here 
and there I know perfectly well. "The Crown 
Prince," people said, "always looks happy; he does 
not take things very seriously." 

Oh, you dear, kind, captious critics, what did you 
know about it? If I had troubled half as much 
about you then as you did about me, my laughter 
would doubtless have vanished. But I troubled 
myself only about one thing — about the men in- 
trusted to me, the men who were bearing the brunt 
of things. And if those old warriors of mine, who 
were then the care of my heart and whom I look 
back to still in love and comrade-like attachment, 
if they had objected to my laughter, then I would 
admit you people to be right ! But they understood 
and thanked me. For their sakes I really did laugh 
and smile, even when I felt in anything but a laugh- 
ing mood. 

Pictures of those bitter days rise before me. 

I recall a review of the recruits. Last year's 
batch of young fellows have just completed their 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 219 

training and are to leave for the front. Six hun- 
dred dear, bright German lads, scarcely out of their 
boyhood, stand there. They are really still much 
too young for the difficult task. Their bright 
eyes are turned expectantly and feverishly upon me ; 
what will the Crown Prince say to them? I feel a 
lump in my throat, and my eyes are inclined to get 
dim; for I had seen only too many go and too few 
return, and these are scarcely more than children! 
Dare I let these lads see what is passing within me ? 
No! — I pull myself together and smile; then I say 
to them: ** Comrades, think of our homeland; it 
must be ; it is hard for me to let you go, but you will 
accomplish your task. Show yourselves worthy of 
the comrades at the front. God bless you!" And 
they cheer and start confidently on their way. 

A big battle is in progress. Serious reports are 
arriving from the front; the enemy have penetrated 
into our lines at a dangerous spot. I am sitting in 
the room of my chief of staff with the map before 
me and the telephone at my side. We have brought 
up the reserves ; the artillery and the fliers are in ac- 
tion; and we await reports. The telephone rings, and 
I snatch up the receiver. Report from Army Higher 
Command: "The breach has widened, but we hope 
to halt in lines A to B." The weightiest cares press 
upon the chief of staff and the commander-in-chief. 
There are no more reserves at our disposal; the last 
man and the last machine-gun have been sent in. 



220 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

Now the soldiers must do it by themselves. Will it 
succeed ? 

I walk out to step into my car and motor to the 
neighborhood of the attack. Hundreds of soldiers 
fill the road; their inquiring eyes are bent anxiously 
upon me. The difficulties of the situation up at the 
front have got about; it looks very much like a dis- 
position to panic here. I get up and call out to 
them: — "Boys, there is heavy fighting going on, 
but we shall manage it, we must manage it, and you 
must help me!" I smile at them. They doubt- 
less say to one another: "It's a tough job, and it 
may cost us a lot. But he trusts to us, and he 
keeps a good heart himself; it'll be all right." 

And, in place of the ominous silence that met me 
when I came out, loud cheers of encouragement 
follow me as I drive off. 

Another picture. It is after the severe struggle on 
the Chemin des Dames. I drive to a regiment that 
has just returned from the fighting to recuperate for 
a few days on the Bove Ridge. The men have quar- 
tered themselves in shell-holes and in old French 
dugouts. I talk with many of them; they are ut- 
terly fatigued. In one of the shell-holes a party 
of corporals are playing the card-game of skat. 
I sit down with them and add three marks to the 
pool. Their tongues are loosed. They are all 
thoroughbred Berliners. Most of them know me. 
At first they grumble at the length of the war, but 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 221 

they add: "Well, we'll set the kid on its toddlers." 
Soon I have to leave for other troops. An old chap 
stands up — a man of quite forty-five — and holds 
out his homy hand to me, saying: — "You're our 
ole Willem, and we shan't forget your comin' to 
see us 'ere; when we goes back to the front, we'll 
think o' you, and you shan't 'ave no cause to com- 
plain o' us." A thunder of hurrahs echoed over the 
blood-soaked Chemin des Dames. 

So much for my laughter then; and I can only 
confess: I can laugh still. In spite of all the blows 
of fate, in spite of all vexations, reverses and lone- 
liness, I still often feel it welling up in me; and I 
thank God that He has left me that ! I felt it only 
yesterday while playing with the fisher children over 
there in Den Oever; and I felt it the other day while 
talking with the smith's man. 

December, 1920. 

Miildner has come back. 

How does the passage about Noah run in the 
Bible? "But the dove found no rest for the sole 
of her foot, and she returned unto him into the 
ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole 
earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, 
and pulled her in unto him into the ark. 

"And he stayed yet another seven days." 

So there is nothing for it but to take one's heart 
in both hands and to enter the third winter on the 
island. 



222 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

One great delight I have had: a visit! My little 
sister has been with me foi a few days on her way 
home from Doom. Any one who could know what 
we have been to one another from childhood (the 
"big brother" of the little sister and vice versa) 
would understand and appreciate how much this 
reunion after such a long time meant to us two. 

Scarcely was the little Duchess gone, when the 
storms burst across the sea — wild and ceaseless by 
day and by night. They almost carried away the 
roof of the parsonage from over our heads. Winter 
has rushed upon us this time in a big attack — with 
a sudden fall of the temperature, with snow blizzards 
and hard frosts and masses of ice in the Zuyder Zee. 
It is worse than even the first bitter winter that we 
spent here two years ago. 

A biting northeaster and driving ice in the sea 
make communication with the mainland almost im- 
possible. Added to this is a breakdown of the tele- 
phone, so that we are quite cut off from the world. 

And the latest news from the sick-bed of my 
mother was so very grave that the worst is to be 
feared. When I think of it, there comes to me as 
it were a prayer: "Not now — not in days like these." 

By three o'clock, or, at the latest, by four, it is 
night. Then I seat myself beside the little iron 
stove with the paraffin lamp and my books and 
papers before me. 

When my eyes wander over the book-shelves, I 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 223 

think to myself: "What a lot you have read and 
ploughed through in the past two years ! More than 
in all the thirty-six that preceded them." 

During the war, the Higher Command of my 
Fifth Army and my Army Group often received 
visitors from the homeland and from neutral coun- 
tries. Of these visits I propose to say something 
here. 

The German federal Princes frequently came to 
see their troops, and I was able thoroughly to dis- 
cuss, with some of them, the whole situation and 
the position of affairs at home; often enough their 
warnings were directed towards trying to find some 
possible opportunity for an arrangement with the 
enemy, a view which I heartily shared. It is to be 
regretted that the German federal Princes were not 
oftener heard by the Imperial Government; many of 
them clearly foresaw the catastrophe. The federal 
character of the German Realm (so carefully guarded 
by Bismarck) was only too often relegated to the 
background during the last fifteen years of the em- 
pire by reason of the excessive centralization at 
Berlin. People overlooked the fact that it was just 
the more local and tribal pride of the different states 
which best helped to cement them together into a 
realm. 

Of the prominent personages who visited me from 
allied and from friendly states I should like to men- 
tion Enver Pasha, Crown Prince Boris of Bulgaria, 



224 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

Count Tisza, Kaiser Karl and Sven Hedin. Count 
Ottokar Czemin was with me twice. We had some 
exhaustive political talks; and I received the im- 
pression that the Count was a high-minded, upright 
and clever statesman who surveyed the actual situa- 
tion clearly and wished to reckon with facts. In 
the summer of 1917, he came to see me at Charle- 
ville; we discussed thoroughly the highly critical 
condition of things, and he was of the opinion that 
the Dual Monarchy was on the point of exhaustion, 
that it only kept itself going by means of stimulants 
and that we, also, had passed the zenith of our mili- 
tary power. He foresaw the coming collapse and 
wished to prevent it by comprehensive and tangible 
concessions to the enemy. A peace by agreement 
on the basis of surrender and sacrifices on the part 
of the Central Powers was his object; and his re- 
marks disclose a certain conviction that this aim 
might be achieved provided the necessary steps were 
taken. We ought to relinquish Alsace-Lorraine and 
to find compensation in the east, where an annexa- 
tion of Poland and Galicia to Germany should be 
worked for. Austria, on her part, was prepared, 
not merely to relinquish Galicia, but also to cede 
the Trentino to Italy. Knowing only too well the 
difficulties of our position, I could not turn a deaf 
ear to his suggestions; but I pointed out to him that 
any such proposals as those he was now putting 
forward were bound to meet with strong opposition 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 225 

in Germany. People at home saw our victorious 
armies standing well advanced into enemy territory; 
the majority believed thoroughly in our chances of 
success; they would not be amenable to the idea of 
giving up old Imperial territory just to get peace, 
just to keep the defense unbroken. Notwithstand- 
ing my recognition of these difficulties and my utter 
scepticism concerning the Poland compensation idea, 
I carefully weighed the sacrifice required from us by 
Czemin's scheme against the incalculable disaster 
into which I believed we should glide if the war 
were continued; and I told the Count that I would 
do all in my power to support his views, especially 
with the leaders of the army. The steps thereupon 
taken by Count Czemin himself failed. The Im- 
perial Government seemed to consider the sacrifice 
expected from us to be too great. Unless I am mis- 
taken, Bethmann HoUweg appeared particularly 
scared by the problem: "How am I to acquaint the 
Reichstag and the people with the truth?" Still 
less receptive to the Count's proposals was the Gen. 
Upper Command; as General Ludendorff explained, 
they regarded it as incomprehensible, with the 
armies unbeaten, that we should talk of giving up 
ancient German temtory which had been so long 
under foreign domination and had been regained 
with German blood. I give due honor to all the 
arguments put forward by General Ludendorff in 
defense of his standpoint: they are to be found in 



226 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

his memoirs, and proceeded from the optimistic 
heart of a fine soldier, not from the mind of a cool 
and judicial statesman. On my side, I endeavored 
to see the problem in its simplest form, namely: 
"Prestige in the French portions of Alsace or the 
existence of the realm?" Hence, I advocated an 
attempt on the lines suggested by Czemin. But 
my sole success was that I was said to have **got 
limp" and to have gone over to the political "bears." 

Dutch, Swedish, Spanish and, at the outset, 
American military missions were frequently our 
guests. Among them, there was many an excellent 
and sympathetic officer. 

Several times, too, German parliamentarians found 
their way to me. There came, for instance, von 
Heydebrand, Oldenburg- Januschau, Kampf, Schulze- 
Bromberg, Trimbom, Fischbeck, David, Hermann 
Mliller. With the Majority Socialist, David, I had 
a long and interesting talk in the summer of 1917. 
Although our views, naturally, were anything but 
identical, we found many points of agreement. On 
my inquiring as to the next demands on his party 
programme, he stressed the necessity for an Act to 
Aid the Unemployed. In reply to my objection 
that it would be very difficult to determine, in every 
case, whether the unemployment were really un- 
deserved, he assured me that a very rigorous check 
would be exercised so as to exclude all possibility 
of abuse. When I read nowadays of the enormous 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 227 

sums expended by the realm and by the munici- 
palities in assisting the unemployed, my mind occa- 
sionally reverts to that talk with "Comrade" David: 
have David and the other fathers of the Act really 
succeeded in carrying into practice their theory of 
a check to exclude all abuse? I could wish it, but 
I am inclined to doubt it. 

After David had left me, I received an account of 
a little incident that happened to him during his 
journey through the war zone, an incident which 
reveals him as a very admirable man. In a small 
place were posted some Landwehr men and some 
columns consisting mostly of elder men who had 
ceased to care much for the war. They recognized 
David and explained to him that they wanted to 
go home — ^wanted to fight no more. Thereupon, 
the Social Democrat David made them a vigorous 
speech, in which he told them that every one had 
to do his duty, that striking in the face of the enemy 
was quite out of the question. The speech did not 
miss its mark. 

In July, 1918, I conversed with Herr von Heyde- 
brand about our situation and our war aims; and I 
was touched by the optimism with which he regarded 
the future even at that time. He was quite dis- 
mayed when I disclosed to him the naked truth, 
when I told him that, for a long time, we had been 
conducting a war of desperation on the west front, 
conducting it with fatigued and exhausted troops 



228 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

against vastly superior forces. On my giving him 
accurate figures and other evidence in proof of my 
assertions and explaining to him our bitterly griev- 
ous position in regard to reserves, he appeared 
scarcely able to grasp the hard actuality unfolded 
before his eyes. Afterwards my chief of staff con- 
firmed for him what I had said and furnished him 
with further particulars. — Herr von Heydebrand then 
told me that, from what he had now learned he must 
recognize that, hitherto, he had cherished a totally 
false view of our situation; he and his party had been 
utterly misinformed in Berlin. 

The over-rosy official view also explains the other- 
wise inexplicable and frequently exaggerated aims 
of the pan-Germans who have been so decried on 
account of their mistaken demands. Like many 
others, they really knew nothing of the actual situa- 
tion. They wanted to point the people to some 
tangible war aims. France was fighting for Alsace- 
Lorraine, England for the domination of the seas 
and for her trade monopoly, Russia for Constanti- 
nople and for ice-free access to the ocean, Italy for 
the "unredeemed provinces." What was Germany 
fighting for ? To this the pan-German party wished 
to give the answer; and the simple truth "for her 
life, for her unscathed existence, for her unob- 
structed development" did not sound strong enough. 
And yet of all war slogans it was the only firm, 
strong and worthy one. 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 229 

Out of a land of dreams millions of Germans were 
suddenly dragged into pitiless and harsh reality 
by the unfortunate events of the year 1918. It 
affords imperishable testimony to the fatal effects 
of artificially cultivating an ill-founded optimism, 
effects especially fatal when, in war time, the judg- 
ment on the general situation is too favorable. Nay, 
I maintain that the collapse of Germany would 
never have developed into such a terrible catas- 
trophe, if the severe reverses at the front, which they 
considered utterly impossible, had not torn the peo- 
ple out of all the illusions anxiously fostered by offi- 
cial personages. They had universally believed 
everything to be highly favorable and prosperous; 
and now, all of a sudden, they had to see that they 
had been duped by misleading propaganda. So ef- 
fectually had this thoughtless, vague optimism been 
instilled into their minds that, even in times of the 
greatest excitement, tired people took refuge in it 
and very few had the energy or self-reliant cour- 
age to picture to themselves the results of a possible 
defeat. And, yet, it was just such as these few 
who drew from their inner conflicts with final bitter 
possibilities a stronger power of resistance, since 
they learned thereby that every supremest effort 
was essential for struggle and victory, that defeat 
meant destruction. 

The lack of uprightness and truthfulness which 
arose from loose thinking and which had become 



230 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

second nature to many gentlemen in responsible 
positions, has taken a bitter revenge. With the 
opiate of eternal reassurances that all is well you 
cannot stimulate to the acme of effort either the 
individual or the community. A much stronger 
effect is obtained by honestly pointing out that 
enormous tasks are to be accomplished in a life-and- 
death struggle, that this struggle is harder than any 
that a people has ever passed through, and that, 
unless all is to he lost, no nerve must weaken, no soul 
become lax, in the ups and downs of this vital con- 
flict. Clear knowledge as to the results of a possi- 
ble defeat ought not to have been withheld from the 
people at home, and the horror of the strife at the 
front ought never to have been disguised for them 
by a false mystification when failures occurred. 

I am not here advocating any doleful damping of 
peoples' spirits; all I say is, that, from the outset, 
the German people ought to have been honored by 
assuming it to be mature enough to face the whole 
hard truth and to steel its heart by gazing at it. 

Hundreds and hundreds of times, I said to my 
troops: ** Comrades, things are going hard with us. 
They are bitterly difficult. It is a case of life and 
death for you and for all that we Germans have. 
Whether we shall pull through I do not know. But 
I have every faith in you that you will not desert one 
another or the cause. There is no other way out of 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 231 

it; and so, forward, for God and with God, for the 
Kaiser and the realm ! for all that you love and re- 
fuse to see crushed." Such things ^s these ought 
to have been told the people at home according as 
the situation called for it. 

But the authorities preferred to ration the truth. 
The result was that the nation, starving for news, 
snatched greedily for rumors and tittle-tattle as 
substitutes for what was kept from them; while dis- 
trust and disintegrating doubt grew apace. These 
false tactics began at the First Battle of the Mame; 
and we never got rid of them till the collapse came. 

The German press is not to be blamed for the 
mistaken views of its readers; the evil had its roots 
in the source from which the information was sup- 
plied to the press. An honest desire for the truth 
was displayed throughout by the newspapers of all 
shades of opinion, though naturally party views and 
personal interests played their part. During the war, 
press representatives of the most diverse political 
opinions, and especially war correspondents who 
were my guests and whom I met over and over 
again with the fighting troops, complained to me 
that they were not permitted to write of the things 
as they saw them, that they might only give their 
readers an inkling of the truth, but not tell them 
the full seriousness of the situation. Very bad news 
it was thought preferable to suppress altogether. 
Especially when matters were critical at the front. 



232 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

the red pencil wallowed in the despatches and re- 
ports; and what ultimately remained had often as- 
sumed quite a different air when denuded of its 
context. 

The censor's office, by reason of its effect upon 
these reports of immediate eye-witnesses, has sinned 
very grievously against the country. 

New Year's Eve, 1920. 

Half an hour ago, we rose from our modest cele- 
bration of New Year's Eve — ^Miildner, Zobeltitz and 
myself. 

Thus quite a little party ! 

How delighted I was when, as soon as the ice per- 
mitted, Zobel came over. 

But, after all, the evening has been a quiet and 
oppressive one. It was as though each of us hung 
secretly in the web of his own thoughts, and as 
if each, when he spoke, was anxiously choosing his 
words lest he might touch some old wound or sore. 

It was fortunate that we had good old Zobel with 
us in his orange-colored jersey. His melancholy 
humor is inexhaustible; and he has the knack of 
making the hardest things softer and more bearable 
by means of his dry, quiet wise fooling. 

What a lot passes through one's mind in such 
hours ! Past, present, future — like the medley of a 
cinema picture, one's self being only a helpless 
spectator. 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 233 

And my family — wife, children, parents, brothers 
and sister — somewhere each of them on this last 
night of the old year has been thinking of me. 

Dear comrades of the field — ^living and dead! 
Friends, even though the end was so different from 
your wishes, the sacrifices you made for our poor 
country, for our longings and for our hopes will not 
be lost. Your deeds remain a sacred example and 
the best seed for a new period in which the Germans 
shall again vigorously believe in themselves and their 
mission — for a period that will come, that must come. 

And all the other faces out of pre-war years! 
But all that seems now to me to be much longer 
ago; it is as if a thin film of dust were settling upon 
it. There is so much that one cannot imagine again 
as it used to be. I fancy we have all learned a great 
deal by bitter experience. And yet it is only seven 
years ago. 

How fast life rushes on ! 

And in another seven years? 

God knows, the lot of us Germans is miserable 
enough now, and I, personally, cannot exactly com- 
plain of any preferential treatment. But when I 
look forward into the future, I seem to feel that we 
must find the way up to the light again at no very 
distant date. 

January, 1921. 

It is still winter weather; but it is almost toler- 
able again; the unbearably depressing isolation 



234 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

caused by the floating ice has been broken; the 
post has arrived, and we are once again a part of 
the world. — Spring- tides and hurricanes are things 
which — considering the moods of the cHmate here — 
are best regarded as harmless excesses not to be 
noticed overmuch. 

Almost as soon as we were "ice-free," Zobel left, 
disguised as an Arctic explorer. 

I myself was over in Doom again for a few days 
to make up for not being there at Christmas. 

Now, those quiet hours with my mother and the 
long talks with my father belong to the past, and 
only the great winter silence lies before me. 

Those talks with my father! There is hardly a 
problem of our past which did not crop up in the 
course of them. And, whenever I am with him and 
see how he worries himself to trace the road of our 
destiny, when I recognize that, with all our mis- 
fortune, he sought always to do the best for the 
realm and the people intrusted to him, I feel the 
bitter injustice done him by a great portion of our 
people in not allowing anything that he accom- 
plished to be of any value, in burying under the 
ruins of an unsuccessful peace policy all that was 
great and good and imperishable in the thirty years 
of my father's reign. 

I believe myself to be fairly free from blindness 
to the mistakes of the throne in Germany during re- 
cent decades; and possibly these sheets bear testi- 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 235 

mony, here and there, to my wish to see clearly and 
to speak frankly of what I see. That, in my opin- 
ion, much that, at the present time, is generally at- 
tributed to the Kaiser should rather be charged to 
the unhappy influence of unsuitable advisers has 
been stated already. With all that, however, these 
memoirs would give a one-sided idea of my views 
concerning the activities of my father, if they did 
not expressly record my full recognition of the 
great personal share taken by him in the prosperous 
development of the empire. 

His services to the empire began when he was 
still a prince. In the years following the war of 
1870-71, the army remained stationary for a long 
time. The officers were, in part, too old, but people 
did not care to pension off men who had done such 
excellent work in the war, and a very cautious at- 
titude was adopted towards innovations generally. 
The well-tried principles on which the war with 
France had been won were to be kept, as far as pos- 
sible, intact. It was, therefore, greatly to his credit 
that the young Prince William recognized the 
perils inherent in this stagnation. He used the 
whole force of his personality to effect an up-to- 
date reorganization of our army training, an effort 
which cost him many a severe conflict. I remem- 
ber that my father, much to the astonishment of 
the great generals, caused the heavy artillery of the 
Fortress of Spandau to take part in the manoeuvres 



236 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

of the Potsdam garrison, a thing till then quite un- 
known. In further production of this idea he sub- 
sequently, as Kaiser, took a large share in fostering 
the growth of our heavy artillery. The develop- 
ment of our engineer troops is also largely due to 
his personal initiative. He also devoted himself 
energetically to the cultivation of a patriotic, self- 
sacrificing spirit in the army, and, wherever he could, 
he advocated the maintenance of traditions and of 
esprit de corps of the various troops. 

The creation of our navy I regard as solely attribut- 
able to my father; in this he took the great step 
into the world which was essential for Germany if 
she were to become a world power and not remain 
merely a Continental one. But we owe to him not 
only our navy; he likewise took an active share in 
the development of our mercantile fleet. 

In the sphere of labor legislation he played a 
leading part; and there is a touch of the tragic in 
the fact that it was the labor party who finally 
brought about his fall, although for their sake he 
had gone through the first great conflicts of his reign 
and caused the Socialist Act to be quashed. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE GREAT COLLAPSE 

For the great Rheims offensive in the month of 
July, 1918, the General Higher Command had 
brought together all our disposable forces, reserving 
only some fresh divisions and heavy artillery with 
the Prince Rupprecht Army Group for the Hagen 
attack. When this move upon Rheims failed, I no 
longer entertained any doubt that matters at the 
front as well as affairs at home were drifting to- 
wards the final catastrophe — a catastrophe which 
was inevitable unless, at this eleventh hour, great 
decisions were formed and energetically carried out. 
My chief of staff, Count von der Schulenburg, 
fully shared my views, and consequently, after the 
enemy's great offensive of Villers-Cotterets, we left 
no means untried to persuade the General Higher 
Command to adopt two measures above all; namely, 
the placing of affairs at the front and affairs at home 
on a sounder basis. 

In consideration of our extremely difficult mili- 
tary situation, we regarded it as requisite that the 
entire front should be immediately withdrawn to 
the Antwerp-Meuse position. This would have 

brought with it a whole series of advantages. In 

237 



238 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

the first place we should have moved far enough 
from the enemy to give our severely fatigued and 
morally depressed troops time to rest and recuper- 
ate. Moreover, the entire front would have been 
considerably shortened; and the naturally strong 
formation of the Meuse front in the Ardennes would 
have afforded us, even with relatively weak forces, 
a strong line of resistance. In this way a saving of 
reserves could be effected. The weak spots of the 
front naturally remained the right wing in Belgium 
and the left at Verdun. 

Our views of the situation were laid before the 
Higher Command in a report in which we stated 
that everything now depended upon withstanding 
the attacks of the enemy until the wet weather set 
in, which would be about the end of November. If 
we had not the forces to hold the long front line, 
we ought to make a timely withdrawal to a shorter 
one. It was immaterial where we halted; the im- 
portant point was to keep our army unbeaten and 
in fighting condition. Our left wing between Sedan 
and the Vosges could not retire and must therefore 
be strengthened with reserves. 

The Higher Command replied that they could, 
at most, decide to withdraw to the starting-point 
of the spring advance of 1918. They adopted the 
view — in itself perfectly correct — that, first, a further 
retirement would be an admission of our weakness, 
which would lead to the most undesirable political 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 239 

deductions on the part of the enemy; secondly, that 
our railways would not enable us to evacuate quickly 
the extensive war zone beyond the Antwerp-Meuse 
position, so that immense quantities of munitions 
and stores would fall into the hands of the enemy; 
thirdly, that the Antwerp-Meuse line would form 
an unfavorable permanent position, since the rail- 
ways, having no lateral communications, would 
render cumbrous and slow the transport of troops 
behind the front and from one wing to another. 

We, however, were of opinion that a retirement 
was unavoidable and that it would be better to 
withdraw while the troops were capable of fighting 
than to wait till they were utterly exhausted. Poli- 
tics, we thought, ought to yield to the military neces- 
sity of retaining an efficient army. The loss of 
material and the unfavorable railway facilities could 
not be helped; we should have to fall back; and it 
would be better to do so in time. 

At home we wanted energetic, inexorable and 
thorough leadership — dictatorship, suppression of all 
revolutionary attempts, exemplary punishment of 
deserters and shirkers, militarization of the muni- 
tion works, etc., expulsion of doubtful foreigners and 
so on. 

But our proposals and warnings had no effect; we 
knew, therefore, what was coming. 

We soon saw ourselves in the midst of the disin- 
tegration; we had to watch with open eyes the in- 



240 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

evitable catastrophe approaching nearer and nearer, 
day by day, ever faster and ever more insatiable. 

When I look back and compare the past, that 
time is the saddest of my life — sadder even than the 
critical months at Verdun or the deeply painful 
days, weeks and months that followed the catas- 
trophe. 

With an anxious heart I entered every morning 
the office of the Army Group; I was always prepared 
for bad news and received it only too often. The 
drives to the front, which had previously been a 
pleasure and recreation for me, were now filled with 
bitterness. The staff officers' brows were furrowed 
with care. Wherever I went, the troops, though 
still unimpeachable in their demeanor — willing, 
friendly and cheerful in their salutes — were worn to 
death. My heart turned within me when I beheld 
their hollow cheeks, their lean and weary figures, 
their tattered and dirty uniforms; one would fain 
have said: "Go home, comrade, have a good long 
sleep, have a good hearty meal — you've done 
enough," when these brave fellows used to pull 
themselves together smartly on my addressing them 
or shaking hands with them. And the pity of it 
all was, I could not help them; these tired and worn- 
out men were the last remnants of our strength, 
they would have to be worked remorselessly, if we 
were to avoid a catastrophe and obtain a peace that 
was at all tolerable for Germany. 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 241 

So, from day to day, I had to look on while the 
old virility of my bravest division dwindled away, 
while vigor and conifidence were bled whiter and 
whiter in the incessant and arduous battles. As 
things stood, no rest could be allowed to the war- 
worn troops, or at most only a day now and then. 
Instead of a drastic shortening of the front, we 
had still the old extent to cover with our anaemic 
and decimated divisions. It soon became quite im- 
possible to do so at all adequately. Clamors for re- 
lief and rest were made to me, which I found myself 
unable to grant. Reinforcements stopped almost 
completely; and the few little groups that dribbled 
out to us were only of inferior value. They consisted 
mostly of old and worn-out soldiers sent back to the 
front again; often they were gleaned from the hos- 
pitals in a half-convalescent condition; often they 
were half-grown lads with no proper training and 
no sort of discipline. The majority of them were of 
a refractory and unruly disposition — an outcome of 
the agitators' work at home and of the feebleness 
of the Government who did nothing to counteract 
these agitators and their revolutionary intrigues. 

That the source of disintegration lay at home and 
that thence there flowed to the front an ever-renewed 
and poisonous stream of agitatory, mutinous and 
rebellious elements no unprejudiced observer could 
question. This conviction is not, by any means, 
based solely upon the views of military circles at the 



242 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

front; during my journeys on furlough and otherwise, 
I saw for myself behind the lines and at home what 
was going on. 

From these personal observations I became con- 
vinced that this movement had its source in the in- 
adequate feeding and care given to the people at 
home; so that, especially in the last year and a 
half of the war, the revolutionary tendencies grew 
so rank that they choked every better disposition. 
And I put the blame less upon the people, who 
hungered and pinched at home for their Fatherland, 
than upon those who were called to provide for 
something better, to see that things were more 
justly distributed and with an energy that showed 
no respect of persons. Finally, I blame those men 
at the head of affairs who, when they saw the failure 
of existing forces, omitted to create a post and ap- 
point an official who, with unlimited powers and 
freed from all the hindrances and encumbrances of 
the old officialdom, should enforce the necessary 
measures with dictatorial authority. 

That, during the menacing years of crisis, we did 
nothing to make economic provision for the war, and 
that we were therefore quite unprepared in an eco- 
nomic sense, I have stated above in discussing the 
years preceding the catastrophe of 1914. The error 
of that period was immensely magnified during the 
war by lack of foresight and by clinging to a system 
which maintained itself by one makeshift after 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 243 

another. The decisions and schemes adopted were 
not precautionary; they came merely in reply to 
the incessant knocks of necessity. A characteristic 
example is the mania for commandeering that took 
possession of the State, which appeared just when 
there was scarcely anything left to seize and which 
was doomed to failure also owing to a wide-spread 
corruption not infrequently winked at and encour- 
aged. 

All this does not, by any means, exonerate the 
radicalism of the left or its filibustering followers, 
whose policy was to draw party advantage and to 
profiteer by the war, from an inexpiable share of re- 
sponsibility for our miserable collapse after four 
years' heroic fighting. It only admits that minds 
cannot be enmeshed until circumstances have crip- 
pled their energy and rendered them open to the 
specious arguments of the agitator; it only admits 
that those who ought to have nourished the people 
with spiritual and bodily food, who ought to have 
assured its will to victory and its patriotic spirit in 
a sound body — that these very men unfortunately 
helped to pave the way for its downfall. 

Even as early as the beginning of the year 1917, 
I received, from conversations with many simple 
people in Berlin, the impression that weariness of the 
war was already very great. I also saw a great and 
a menacing change in the streets of Berlin. Their 
characteristic feature had gone: the contented face 



244 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

of the middle-class man had vanished; the honest, 
hard-working bourgeoisie, the clerk and his wife and 
children, slunk through the streets, hollow-eyed, 
lantern-jawed, pale-faced and clad in threadbare 
clothing that had become much too wide for their 
shrunken limbs. Side by side with them jostled 
the puffed-up profiteer and all the other rogues of 
like kidney. 

It goes without saying that these contrasts 
aroused dissatisfaction and bitterness in the hearts 
of those who suffered, and whose faith in the justice 
and fairness of the authorities was severely shaken. 
Nevertheless, nothing was done to remove the evil; 
in the fullest sense of the saying, whoever wished to 
profiteer profiteered — ^profiteered in state contracts, 
in essential victuals, in raw materials, in party gains 
for the benefit of the "International." 

The effects of all this were severely felt, both be- 
hind the lines and at the front. Every bitter letter 
from home carried the bacillus; every soldier re- 
turning from furlough who had come into touch 
with these things and told his impressions to his 
overtaxed comrades, helped to spread the disease; 
and it was aggravated by every refractory young 
rascal who had grown up without a father's care 
and whom the home authorities shunted to the front 
because they could not manage him themselves. 

The sources from which the losses of the troops 
were made good were the deputy-general commands 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 245 

at home. Their enormous significance was not 
sufficiently recognized, nor their value properly ap- 
preciated in selecting the individuals who were to re- 
place the commanding generals and chiefs of staff. 
From the outset, old men were appointed — often 
worthy and deserving soldiers who enthusiastically 
placed their services at the disposal of their country, 
but who had no proper estimate of the energies and 
capacities left to them. People wished not to be un- 
grateful, wished to provide a sphere of activity for 
these willing patriots in which they could do no 
harm; it also gave an opportunity of liberating 
fresher forces for the front. All this may have been 
very well, so long as we could reckon with a short 
war and with the stability of home affairs as they 
stood in 1914; but it ought to have been drastically 
ordered to fit in with new ideas, when the duration 
of the war could no longer be estimated even ap- 
proximately, when it became necessary to consider 
carefully the possibility of new or recurrent move- 
ments that might exercise a destructive influence 
upon the unanimity that had originally been so re- 
assuring. No such thorough adaptation to suit the 
altered circumstances ever took place. Whoever 
once occupied a deputy's post occupied it perma- 
nently; or if a post became vacant by death or be- 
cause the substitute was really too utterly incapable, 
it was filled again from the ranks of those who had 
failed at the front or who, through illness or wounds, 



246 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

were now considered fit only for home service. A 
home post! What harm can the man do there? 
The man who was no longer a man, whose energies 
were used up, who knew nothing of the war, or who, 
if he had been to the front, had, with few exceptions, 
returned embittered to regard home service as a 
buenretiro after labors accomplished, — this type of 
man caused us untold injury. Just in the last years 
of the war, all the human material that we called up 
and combed out ought to have passed through the 
strongest and firmest hands before being incor- 
porated at the front. These men, who were, for the 
most part, worm-eaten by revolutionary ideas or 
tainted with pacifist notions, ought to have been 
trained by vigorous educative work into disciplined 
men worthy of their comrades at the front. With a 
few nice phrases such as were common at the meet- 
ings of "warriors' societies" or at memorial festivi- 
ties, no such educative work could be performed. 
And what the homeland failed to do could never be 
done afterwards by instruction in patriotism, were it 
never so well meant. To my mind, the idea of in- 
stilling into the men within sound of the guns the 
patriotism they lacked was naive in the extreme. 
We received as supplementary drafts men who had 
started with the determination to hold up their hands 
at the very first opportunity. But it was the mis- 
taken method of filling the responsible positions in 
the commandos that avenged itself most terribly. 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 247 

In the summer and early autumn of 1918, the 
spreading demoralization became more and more 
noticeable in the occupied territory. The order that 
originally existed behind the lines was visibly de- 
teriorating. In the larger camps on the lines of com- 
munications, thousands of straggling shirkers and 
men on leave roamed about; some of them regarded 
every day that they could keep away from their 
units as a boon from heaven; some of them were 
totally unable to join their regiments on account of 
the overburdening of the railways. I remember at 
the time a journey to the front which took me through 
Hirson Junction. It was just dinner-time for men 
going on leave and stragglers, who stood around by 
the hundred. I mingled with the crowd and talked 
to many of the men. What I heard was saddening 
indeed. Most of them were sick and tired of the war 
and scarcely made an effort to hide their disinclina- 
tion to rejoin their units. Nor were they all rascals; 
there was many a face there which showed that the 
nerves had given way, that the energy was gone, 
that the primitive and unchecked impulse of self- 
preservation had got the mastery over all recogni- 
tion of the necessity for holding out or resisting. 
Of course among the stragglers in Hirson there were 
also a number of fine fellows who maintained their 
courage and bearing. To meet this disintegration 
of forces which might have been concentrated into 
a valuable help for our daily increasing needs noth- 



248 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

ing, or next to nothing, was attempted. New com- 
prehensive and thorough measures were imperative 
here, and they should have been intrusted to the 
Higher Command to enforce. Within the sphere of 
our Army Group, we naturally did everything that 
lay in our power to introduce some sort of order into 
the chaos, but we received very slight support in our 
efforts. 

The discipline behind the lines slackened omi- 
nously. This I could perceive in Charleville, the 
headquarters of the Army Group. Men had con- 
stantly to be taken to task on account of their slack 
bearing and their failure to salute. Men returned 
from leave, who had previously performed their 
duties in an exemplary manner, were inclined to 
insubordination and mutiny. The younger replace- 
ments were, at best, utterly wanting in enthusiasm 
and generally showed an absolutely frivolous con- 
ception of patriotism, duty and fidelity — things 
which, for a soldier, should be sacred matters. Un- 
fortunately, the highest authorities resolved upon 
no energetic or exemplary measures in regard to 
these dangerous phenomena. The behavior of the 
French population was, it is true, correct; but they 
did not disguise their delight at our manifest de- 
cline. 

By the end of September, events came fast and 
furious. It was like a vast conflagration that had 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 249 

long smouldered in secret and that, suddenly getting 
air, now burst into flame at numberless spots. 
Fire everywhere: here in the west and in the south- 
east and at home. The collapse of Bulgaria was 
the first visible sign. Bad tidings had arrived from 
the Balkan front on September 26. They reached 
us while our own Army Group was itself engaged in 
a severe defensive battle against big attacks to the 
west of the Aisne and on both sides of the Argonne 
from eastward of Rheims up to the Meuse, a battle 
which, despite all our heroic resistance, ended in 
our having to yield ground to the vastly superior 
masses of the enemy with their armored tanks. 
The Bulgarians, under the heavy pressure of the 
united forces of the Entente on the Macedonian 
front, had retired on a wide line. They had lost 
a great number of prisoners and a large quantity 
of material; and, as we gathered from the brief 
telegrams and telephone messages, Malmoff, the 
Bulgarian Prime Minister, believed that he could 
only meet these reverses by entering upon peace ne- 
gotiations with the commander-in-chief of the En- 
tente armies. The situation thus created spelled 
serious peril for us; the elimination of Bulgaria 
might mean the beginning of the end for the Central 
Powers; the Danube lay open to the Entente forces; 
the invasion of Roumania and Hungary had been 
brought within the bounds of more immediate possi- 
bility. The news caused the Kaiser and the General 



250 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

Higher Command at Avesnes the greatest consterna- 
tion. For the time being, the gap was stopped; the 
influence of the King and of the Crown Prince Boris 
succeeded in stemming the rout; and the General 
Higher Command arranged for the immediate trans- 
port to the Balkans of some Austrian divisions and 
of several divisions from the east to succor the 
severely damaged front. 

Meantime the most vehement attacks upon the 
entire west front from Flanders to the east of the 
Argonne were continued by the Entente armies with 
a savage determination such as had never been dis- 
played before. We received the impression of being 
at the climax of the concentric hostile offensive and 
— though the gigantic attack might compel us to 
yield ground — ^we felt that, by devoting all our 
strength to the endeavor, we might, after all, main- 
tain our position; only that behind this desperate 
effort still lurked the agonizing question: "How long 
yet?'^ 

On September 28, I visited my brother Fritz, 
who, with his division. First Guards division, was 
engaged in severe combat with the Americans at 
the eastern extremity of the Argonne. I know my 
brother to be a very brave, intrepid and cool-headed 
man and one whose care for his troops was exem- 
plary. He was accustomed to affliction and distress; 
the First Guards had stood all along where things 
had been about as hot as they could be, at Ypres, in 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 251 

Champagne, at the Somme, the Chemin des Dames, 
Gorlice, the Argonne. This time I found him changed; 
he was filled with unutterable bitterness; he saw the 
end approaching and, together with his men, fought 
desperately. He gave me a description of the situa- 
tion which filled me with dismay. His entire di- 
vision consisted of 500 rifles in the fighting zone; 
the staff with their despatch-carriers were fighting in 
the front line, rifle in hand. The artillerymen were 
extremely fatigued, the guns were worn out, fresh 
ones were scarcely to be got from the works, the 
rations were insufficient and bad. What was to 
come of it all ? The American attacks were in them- 
selves badly planned; they showed ignorance of war- 
fare; the men advanced in columns and were mowed 
down by our remaining machine-guns. No great 
danger lay there. But their tanks pierced our 
thin lines — one man every twenty metres — and 
fired on us from behind. Not till then, did the 
American infantry advance. Withal the Ameri- 
cans had at their disposal an incredible quantity of 
heavy and very heavy artillery. Their preliminary 
firing greatly exceeded in intensity and heaviness 
anything we had known at Verdun or on the Somme. 
In a report I made to His Majesty at Spa, I de- 
scribed to him in detail the desperate condition of 
these First Guards; the Kaiser talked about it to 
Ludendorff; but no decision to relieve them was 
arrived at; I may admit that perhaps it could not 



252 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

be done, for we now needed every available man for 
the last struggle. 

At this time, all my attention and energy were 
devoted to the stormy events at the front and to 
the troops intrusted to me. Almost daily, I was 
in the fighting zone; and, till far into October, I 
was so occupied with my duties as leader of the Army 
Group that I was unable to follow attentively the 
highly important political events which were taking 
place, although I recognized them to be of the most 
serious import. Hence, while, in another place, 
I can report from personal experience and from my 
own judgment concerning the gigantic battle in 
which we were engaged, I can only briefly refer 
to those political happenings which may be con- 
sidered more or less matters of common knowledge. 

On September 30, I received from His Excellency 
von Berg an unexpected telephone call to Spa, 
where, in the General Headquarters, important de- 
cisions of a military character touching the question 
of peace and the situation at home had been made 
or were about to be made. Since I had hitherto 
been carefully confined to the scope of my military 
duties, this order suggested that something unusual 
was in the air. There was no reason to hope for 
anything good; and the information that met me at 
Spa was truly startling and dismaidng even to one 
who, like myself, had come prepared to hear bad 
news. I will sketch in a few lines what I learned. 



! 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 253 

Field-Marshal General von Hindenburg and Gen- 
eral Ludendorff had conferred with the minister for 
foreign affairs and had been informed that, in pur- 
suance of the negotiations of August 14, efforts had 
been made to approach the enemy states through 
the mediation of neutral powers, but that these 
had failed to develop into peace negotiations, nor 
was there any hope of success in that direction. 

In reply to the Foreign Office's declaration of 
bankruptcy, the representatives of the General 
Higher Command had stated that, in consideration 
of their own breakdown in the field and at home and 
considering the enormous superiority of the enemy 
forces and the gigantic efforts they were making, 
they saw themselves faced with the impossibility of 
gaining a military victory. Even though this effort 
on the part of the enemy appeared to be the last 
possible spurt before the finish, success for us could 
no longer give us "victory," but, as had been ad- 
mitted in August, could only lie in our surviving the 
enemy's will to continue the war, — in a struggle as 
to whether one could hold out to the last quarter of 
an hour. Considering the utter failure of the home 
departments and the question of reserves, it had to 
be acknowledged that the only thing possible was 
to choose a better defensive position in which to 
winter. During that period, an armistice and peace 
negotiations should and must be begun. The Meuse 
position, which my chief of staff and I had advocated 



254 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

immediately after the unsuccessful Rheims offensive 
in July and while we could have with comparative 
ease disengaged ourselves from the enemy, was now 
to be occupied for the winter defensive. 

Still more threatening was what the secretary of 
state had to report concerning the situation at 
home, where the people had glided faster and faster 
under the control and the influence of the majority 
parties. According to his statements, revolution, 
struggling for control of the State, stood, as it were, 
knocking at the door. Induced by the conditions 
arising out of the unfavorable military situation, and 
quite regardless of the strength or weakness of the 
State, the majority parties — who desired the offensive 
for their own ends — had made a violent attack in 
the principal committee of the Reichstag, upon the 
Imperial Chancellor, Count von Hertling. 

The main accusations brought against him were: 
— the supremacy of the deputy commanding gen- 
erals at home, the Suffrage Act, and the influence 
without responsibility exercised upon home politics 
by the Higher Command. The demands put for- 
ward were aimed frankly at parliamentary control 
of the Government and the shelving of the military 
regime. The two ways of overcoming the crisis 
would have been, on the one hand, for the Govern- 
ment to assert its authority in unequivocal fashion 
by acting, in the one case, with all the powers of a 
dictator, in the other to submit and grant the dc-* 
mands of the majority parties. 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 255 

The secretary of state believed it possible to dis- 
arm the revolutionary movement by granting par- 
liamentary government on a broad national basis; 
hence he advocated this policy notwithstanding the 
fact that circumstances in the country and our re- 
lations with the enemy were highly unpropitious 
for such a reorganization of the constitution. Thus, 
the revolution threatening from below was to be 
suffocated with the mantle of a revolution from 
above ; and a fresh welding together of the decaying 
forces of the people was to be effected under the 
slogan of a ** Government of National Defense." I 
will gladly assume it to be indisputable that these 
responsible statesmen who advocated this policy 
believed in the possibility of getting workable con- 
ditions by their method and that they hoped for 
a certain yield from the new government firm, at 
any rate in foreign affairs, /. e., with a view to the 
peace negotiations. But I must confess that I 
could not resist the impression that it was all a 
matter of fine words, that the whole thing was only 
the form (evil in itself and embellished by auto- 
suggestion) under which its advocates abandoned 
the power in the State to their opponents of the 
majority parties. 

His Majesty agreed to the proposals of these 
gentlemen. The manifold difficulties now crowding 
forward had already reached the steps of the throne, 
and the Kaiser, under pressure of these problems. 



256 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

seemed to be suffering from a lack of psychical 
stamina; he appeared unable to assume a strong, 
self-reliant position. Consequently, in the various 
proposals of his military and political counsellors, 
he saw succor and support, at which he eagerly 
grasped in order, for the moment at least, to feel 
that the dangers were surmounted. 

The position of the Imperial Chancellor, Count 
von Hertling, whose age and infirmities rendered 
him physically unfit for his office, appeared so se- 
verely shaken that the Kaiser, since the Count de- 
clined to participate in the change of constitution, 
declared himself willing to accept the resignation 
that had been tendered. As successors were men- 
tioned, first of all, Prince Max of Baden and the 
secretary to the imperial exchequer. Count Rodem; 
the selection of the latter appearing the more 
probable. 

On account of the menacing and uncertain general 
situation at the front and at home, the gentlemen 
from Berlin, as well as those of His Majesty's suite 
and of the General Headquarters, were in a very 
serious mood. In regard to the military difficulties, 
it was hoped, however, that the great battle on the 
west front might be fought out without any severe 
defeat. Moreover, a hope of keeping the allies who 
had become unreliable was also cherished. People 
likewise believed themselves able, by carrying out 
the intended constitutional change, to effect such 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 257 

an alteration of the mental trend at home that, on 
the whole, a firm front could be shown at home and 
abroad. 

Personally, I could not share the optimism dis- 
played in this view of matters at home. Both by 
nature and by conviction gained from history and 
experience, I always possessed a leaning towards the 
British constitutional system, and I have thought 
much about its adaptability to our form of state. 
As I have pointed out before, I was not spared a 
good many rebuffs and criticisms whenever, in pre- 
war years, I expounded and defended my opinions 
on this subject. What was now to take place, ap- 
peared to fall into line with my notions. Appeared 
to do so, though in reality it had nothing in common 
with them. 

Only what is given with a willing hand meets 
with appreciation; what is ultimately snatched with 
the claim of a right, after it has been withheld time 
and again, has no value as a gift. To divest one- 
self of a thing voluntarily and at the right moment 
and with discernment is manly and regal, if the 
word may be used; but it is just as manly and regal 
to refuse what is to be extorted as the prize of a 
trial of strength in the hour of a country's bitterest 
need when it is struggling for existence. A liberal, 
voluntary and timely reconstruction of our consti- 
tution would have revealed the strength of the 
crown; it would have disarmed the opposition and 



258 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

brought it back to a sense of duty. But for the crown 
to yield to violent claims, backed by threats of 
revolution, was to display signs of helplessness and 
feebleness which could only increase the cupidity 
of the covetous within the country and without. 
At the moment when the flood was at hand, a dyke 
was razed, because it was believed possible to as- 
suage and calm the approaching billows by re- 
moving the obstruction. Madness! One merely 
gave up everything that lay behind the dyke; the 
Spa decisions unconditionally abandoned the powers 
of the State to the parties of the extreme left who 
were going "the whole hog," aiming at revolution. 
In the teeth of the storm, one should have been 
strong and shown one's strength. But the rigid 
home programme of August 14, the programme of 
thoroughness, order, strictness, energy, the pro- 
gramme of no longer closing one's eyes, the pro- 
gramme which, in the days of the first sinister 
omens, had been demanded by Ludendorfif as a 
conditio sine qua non and which had been promised 
by the chancellor, — ^that programme had never 
been carried out. Nothing had been done since 
then. Now, when the storm was howling, it was 
too late to strengthen the rotten bulwarks, to repair 
the neglected dykes. No dyke captain or dictator, 
were he ever so talented, were he the immortal 
dyke captain von Schonhausen himself, could undo 
or retrieve in a few hours the sins and the negligences 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 259 

of many years. That we no longer knew a firm 
hand in the country, that the Government had for 
years not led, but suffered things to go as they 
pleased, brought about consequences that decided 
the question of supremacy. And on that day, men, 
whose final wisdom it was to lay upon other shoulders 
the responsibility for the results of their own inca- 
pacity, abandoned monarchy bowing to the demo- 
cratic demands of our enemies and to threatening 
internationalism of every shade. As I have al- 
ready said. His Excellency von Hintze, the secre- 
tary of state for foreign affairs, undertook to report 
upon the situation in the interior as well and to 
recommend as the best solution the "revolution from 
above," which, as things stood, was nothing but 
"surrender at discretion." Strange that this man, 
whose praiseworthy past entitled him to be held 
worthy and to be trusted, and who, as Kiihlmann's 
successor, might have accomplished so much, — 
strange that this man should have chosen this 
course. 

In truth and honor, it must be said that what I 
have just written is, in part, the outcome of pos- 
thumous consideration and discernment. Into the 
short hours of that conference, there was forced and 
pressed so much exciting news and I was so anxious 
to get back to the troops and the battle from which 
I had been called that I only grasped the general 
outline of affairs. Nor, indeed, was I asked for my 



260 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

opinion on all those seething problems or on all that, 
in the main, was already, unalterably fixed by de- 
terminations arising out of the agony of the mo- 
ment. It was almost a wonder that people had 
remembered that the commander-in-chief of the 
army group was also the Crown Prince of Germany 
and of Prussia. Irresponsible, without rights, but 
nevertheless. . . . And so I was summoned, and 
while a thousand voices called me away to the 
post of my soldier's duties, I had to look on at events 
which were irresistibly concentrating themselves to 
produce the great crash. 

Immediately upon the conclusion of the confer- 
ence, the Kaiser left for home; and the field-marshal 
general followed him on October 1, as he himself 
said, to be near His Majesty in those days of 
gravest decision, to give information to the Gov- 
ernment now forming and to strengthen its confi- 
dence. 

On October 2, indications accumulated that, in 
spite of the original doubts, Prince Max of Baden 
would be selected as Imperial Chancellor, his origin 
and personality affording a guarantee, as it was then 
thought, that the interests of the crown would be 
safeguarded in the reorganization of home politics 
which appeared to have become necessary. In the 
preliminary negotiations, the Prince seemed to have 
adopted unreservedly the official programme of the 
majority parties. 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 261 

February, 192L 
My Army Group was still struggling in the sever- 
est defensive battle, when I learned of the actual 
appointment of Prince Max of Baden on October 1. 
A new Government had been created, containing 
several social-democratic members. This innova- 
tion signified, in the eyes of the world, a reversal 
of the home policy of the empire, a change of sys- 
tem in the direction of democracy and parliamen- 
tary government. Whether that which, to some 
extent, had been produced under the pressure of a 
very serious foreign situation would really prove 
capable of welding the nation together remained to 
be seen. 

On October 4, my Army Group was again en- 
gaged in the severest defensive fighting, the enemy 
having commenced a general attack along the en- 
tire western front. The battle raged bitterly on 
the ridge and the slopes of the Chemin des Dames 
between the Ailette and the Aisne, in Champagne, 
on both sides of the road leading northward from 
Somme-Py, between the Argonne and the Meuse, 
to the east of the Aisne and on both sides of the 
Montfaucon-Bautheville road. Since September 26, 
we had located no fewer than thirty-seven attack- 
ing divisions. And they had artillery, tanks and 
fliers in apparently inexhaustible quantity. On the 
whole, our older troops behaved magnificently 
and fought with undiminished tenacity. And yet 



262 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

we now suffered losses in men and material such 
as we had formerly never known. Oftener and 
oftener did individual divisions now fail us — ^partly 
through exhaustion, but also (and that was the 
most serious point) on account of the international 
and pacifistic contamination of the troops. Cour- 
ageously advancing troops were howled at as "war- 
protractors" and "blacklegs." Distrust of their 
comrades caused demoralization in the resisting 
powers of the whole body; failure on the part of cer- 
tain contaminated troops led to our flank being turned 
and to the capture of groups that were honestly fight- 
ing; frequently, therefore, such unreliable troops 
had to be eliminated and the gaps filled with trust- 
worthy but overfatigued divisions. And so I had to 
use up my best capital, although I realized fully 
what it meant. And yet, even now, I could weep 
when I think of the unbroken spirit of self-sacrifice 
shown by the trusty, brave and well-tried troops who 
faithfully performed to the last their severe duty. 
They upheld, through all that misery, our best tra- 
ditions. 

On that 4th of October, I drove over to Avesnes 
for a conference with Lieutenant-General von Boehn 
and his general staff; from there I went on to Mons 
and discussed the military situation at length with 
the Crown Prince of Bavaria and his chief of gen- 
eral staff. His Excellency von Kuhl. We were unani- 
mously of opinion that, in the present conditions, we 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 263 

could not continue to maintain contested positions 
on our war-worn front in the face of continuous at- 
tacks by an enemy in superior force. We lacked 
the troops requisite for counter-attacking and for 
providing our soldiers with the necessary repose. 
Consequently, it appeared to us essential to relin- 
quish further territory and, while covering our with- 
drawal, to take up more retired positions and thus, 
by shortening our front, to obtain the reserves essen- 
tial for a continuation of the battle, whose duration 
it was not possible to determine. 

While my brave divisions, ragged and tattered 
as they were, were retiring step by step and defend- 
ing themselves as they went, — ^Berlin despatched, 
to the President of the North American Republic, 
via Switzerland, the offer which suggested a "just 
peace," based in essence upon the principles put 
forward by Wilson, — an offer which was coupled 
with a disastrous request for the granting of an 
armistice. 

The struggle continued, and there was no end to 
the battle visible. Our troops were now opposed 
to enormously superior odds, both in men and 
material. They withstood them; they intercepted 
attacks, and evacuated ground; they closed up to 
form a new front and offered fresh resistance. Al- 
most daily I was at the front and saw and spoke to 
the men. They behaved heroically in the unequal 
combat, and faithfully fulfilled their duty to the 



264 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

death. He lies who asserts that the fighting spirit 
of the front was broken. It was stronger than the 
shattered and exhausted bodies of the men. The 
men grumbled whenever they had a moment's 
time to grumble, just as every genuine German 
grumbles; but, when it came to the point, they 
were ever ready again. 

And these incessant battles had a curious result. 
They effected a kind of self-purification of the 
troops. Whatever was foul and corrupt filtered 
through into captivity with the enemy; what re- 
mained to us was the healthy kernel. All that 
these emaciated and miserably cared for, these 
overfatigued and death-hunted German warriors 
could possibly give, that they gave. Gratefully 
my thoughts fly back to them — to those whose 
bodies lie where we left them, and to those living 
ones now scattered in German cities and German 
villages, who follow the plough, who stand at the 
anvil, who sit at their desks, to all who are peace- 
fully laboring again in the homeland. 

Still the enemy rushed on; every day brought a 
big attack; the air trembled in fire; the dull thuds, 
the roar, the rattling peals never paused again. 

On the night of the 5th, the left wing of the I 
Army had retired behind Suippes; in order to get 
into touch again with the retreating VII, it had 
to leave the salient of the Rheims front and to with- 
draw its right wing as far as Conde. On October 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 265 

10, the XVIII Army, which at that time had also 
been ranged under the Army Group, retired, fight- 
ing hard, to the scarcely marked out Hermann line. 

While all my thoughts were concentrated upon the 
battle and upon the German soldiers intrusted to 
me, there reached my ears from home news that 
sounded distant and strange: the wording of our 
Peace Note to President Wilson; the brusque 
refusal voiced by the Paris press; the reply which 
evaded replying and demanded our agreement to 
evacuate all occupied territory as a condition of 
an armistice. There was talk of consultations 
among the leading statesmen, of the formation by 
the Higher Command of an armistice commission 
under the expert. General von Guendell. War 
Minister von Stein, resigned his office and was re- 
placed by General Schenck. 

We fought. The rage of the battle began to 
subside slowly at the end of the second week. There 
was utter exhaustion on both sides. We had 
yielded ground under the enormous pressure, but 
we stood; and nowhere had the enemy broken 
through. On the 10th, the III Army stood in the 
new Bmnhilde position from St. Germainmont on 
the north bank of the Aisne passing through Bethel 
to the east of Vouziers and west of Grandpre. Gall- 
witz was fighting the Americans in the area between 
Sivry and the Forest of Haumont. By the 12th, 
the I Army had occupied, according to plan, the 



266 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

Gudrun-Brunhilde position and the VII Army had 
retired to the Hunding position behind the Oise- 
Serre sector. A review of the military situation 
showed that the threatened collapse of the west 
front had been prevented by the transfer of the 
lines of resistance to stronger and shorter sectors. 
Despite all the seriousness of the situation, we stood 
for the moment fairly firm; and, while the enemy 
might be preparing for fresh concentration and 
offensive, we could ourselves be recuperating and 
getting ready for defense — and such a breathing- 
space was more than necessary to the overfatigued 
and overtaxed troops. 

There remained, in my opinion, the faint hope 
that the peace efforts now being undertaken might 
lead, before the winter began, to a conclusion of 
the war honorable for Germany by reason of its 
being a righteous peace of reconciliation. Failing 
this, we could — again, according to my personal 
views — reckon with a possibility of holding out till 
the spring of 1919 at the uttermost. 

On October 12, in reply to the inquiry of Presi- 
dent Wilson, Berlin gave a binding acceptance of 
the conditions drawn up by him and also signified 
that we were prepared to evacuate the occupied 
areas on certain conditions. 

All the news from the other side seemed to me to 
reveal vaguely two opinions struggling for suprem- 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 267 

acy. There was Wilson, who wanted to estabUsh his 
fourteen points; there was Foch, who knew only one 
aim — our destruction. Which would win? The 
couple were unequally matched — the sprinter Wilson 
and the stayer Foch. If things were quickly settled, 
Wilson's chances were good; if the negotiations were 
protracted, time was in Foch's favor. Every day's 
delay was a gain to him; it allowed the dry-rot in 
the homeland to spread; it enfeebled and wasted 
the front, which was mainly buttressed upon aux- 
iliary and defensive positions. 

The 13th brought me news that caused me great 
uneasiness on my father's account. Developments 
in home politics had led to the resignation of His 
Excellency von Berg, the excellent and well-tried 
chef du cabinet militaire. His departure removed 
from the permanent inner circle of the Kaiser a man 
who, by reason of his old youthful friendship and 
disregard of courtly conventions, was able, in loyal 
candor and simplicity, to show the Kaiser things as 
they really were. 

On the 15th the vigorous attacks began again 
against the Army Group of Crown Prince Rup- 
precht, against me and against Gallwitz. The en- 
emy had pushed forward to our new front and 
made a fresh onslaught. Loss of ground here and 
there. The troops were nearly played out. Next 
day, Lille fell. With the Crown Prince of Bavaria 
things were worst. Losses were sustained wherever 



268 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

the enemy attacked. Now that they had heard 
something of a possible armistice and approaching 
negotiations, it was as though our people could no 
longer find their full inner strength to fight. Also 
as though, here and there, they no longer wanted 
to. But where lay the dividing line between could 
and would with these men, who had a thousand 
times bravely risked their lives for their country, 
and whose heads were fuddled by hunger, pain, 
and privation? Does that final and single failure 
make a coward of the man who has a hundred times 
shown himself a hero? No! Only it deprives him 
of the prize for which he risked his life a hundred 
times. 

Once more — while the new Government is making 
a quick change toward democracy and turning the 
Imperial constitution topsyturvy — a note from 
President Wilson. It is in a new tone — arrogant 
and implacable, it imposes conditions which consti- 
tute an interference in Germany's internal affairs. 
It voices clearly the spirit of Foch which threatens 
to overpower Wilson — the spirit of Foch, which 
brags of the military results of the last few days, 
who wishes for postponement and delay in order 
that the disaster which has swooped upon the Ger- 
man people and the German army may rage more 
madly than ever. I cannot refrain from reproduc- 
ing here a page from my diary which records the 
situation as I saw it then: 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 269 

*' There is at the moment a marked contrast be- 
tween Wilson and Foch. Wilson desires a peace 
by justice, reconciliation and understanding. Foch 
wants the complete humiliation of Germany and the 
gratification of French vanity. 

"Every manifestation of firmness on the German 
front and in the German diplomatic attitude strength- 
ens Wilson's position; every sign of military or po- 
litical weakness strengthens Foch. 

"Wilson demands surrender on two points only: 

1. U-boat warfare; no more passenger ships to be 

sunk. 

2. Democratization of Germany. (No deposition 

of the Kaiser; only constitutional mon- 
archy; position of the crown as in England.) 

"A military humiliation of Germany is not aimed 
at by Wilson. Foch, on the other hand, wishes, 
with every means possible, to effect a complete mili- 
tary capitulation and humiliation (gratification of 
French revenge). Which of the two will get the 
upper hand depends solely and simply upon Ger- 
many. If the front holds out and we preserve a dig- 
nified diplomatic attitude, Wilson will win. Yield- 
ing to Foch means the destruction of Germany and 
the miscarriage of every prospect of an endurable 
peace. 

"England's position is an intermediate one. The 
main difficulty in the peace movement is France. 



270 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

"Attainment of a peace by understanding is ren- 
dered much more difficult for Wilson by the fact that 
our democratization and the peace steps have come 
at the same moment. This is regarded as a sign of 
weakness, and it strengthens Foch's position. If 
we want a peace of justice, we must put the brake 
on everywhere — especially in our hankering for 
peace and armistice. Moreover, we must do every- 
thing possible to hold the front and to direct the 
further democratization along calmer or, shall we 
say, more reasonably convincing lines." 

What was written above about Wilson was, at the 
moment for which it was intended, perhaps quite 
correct; but it was soon no longer so. Still I could 
believe even now that this self-complaisant theorist 
wanted, at first, to settle matters justly and con- 
scientiously — till a stronger and more cunning man 
caught him and, with ironic superiority, harnessed 
him to his own chariot. 

On October 17, Ostend, Bruges and Toumay were 
given up by the Army Group of my brave cousin, 
Rupprecht; on the 19th, the enemy settled down on 
both sides of Vouziers on the east bank of the Aisne 
and began preparations for further attacks. 

From home there arrives news of feverish excite- 
ment among the people. Some are depressed and 
despairing; others were filled with the hope of a 
reasonable settlement. And then rumors of an ap- 
proaching abdication of the Kaiser, of an election of 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 271 

the House of Wittelsbach in place of the Hohen- 
zollems, of a regency of Prince Max of Baden. 

Fighting continues; we hold out fairly well. Any 
one who can keep on his legs is put in the ranks; for 
it is a question of the possibility of an armistice, of 
peace. The General Higher Command emphati- 
cally warns the leaders that, considering the dip- 
lomatic negotiations in progress, a further retreat 
might have the most serious influence upon events. 

Hence, we must hold tight to the Hermann and 
the Gudrun positions ! Good God ! What have 
these positions to offer? They are incomplete and, 
in many places, only marked out ! 

And yet, the men who for four years have given 
their best, prove themselves now, in these hardest 
days, to be the finest, the trustiest soldiers in the 
world ! They hold the front ! 

On the 21st, we learn the terms of the Govern- 
ment's reply to Wilson. Everything has been done 
to meet his wishes. Surely, on this basis, he can 
find ways and means to conclude an armistice and 
to start peace negotiations. Will he indeed do so? 
Will he do so still? More days pass, during which 
thousands of Germans and men of all nations are 
mowed down, during which the gentlemen at the 
green-baize table take their time, during which our 
position at the front does not improve. The voice 
of Wilson's note of the 24th, that arrogant and 
haughty voice, was the voice of Marshal Foch — or 



272 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

the voice of a Wilson who had sunk to be the puppet 
of the French wire-puller and now equalled his mas- 
ter in hawking and spitting. 

Once more, in those gruesome, sombre days, in 
which I saw my poor, battered divisions sacrificing 
all that was left, my heart was to be cheered by 
my brave fellows. It was on October 25. I mo- 
tored to the front to convince myself of the condi- 
tion of some of my divisions in the severe fighting. 
After visiting the divisional staffs of the 50th In- 
fantry and the 4th Guards, I proceeded to a height 
from which I hoped to get a sight of the fighting 
lines. 

In a green valley in front of the village of Serain- 
court, I met the sectional reserves that were about 
to march into the fight. They consisted of the regi- 
ments of the I Infantry Division and included my 
Crown Prince Regiment. When the troops caught 
sight of my car, I was at once surrounded by a throng 
of waving and cheering men. All of them betrayed 
only too clearly the effects of the heavy fighting of 
the last few months. Their uniforms were tattered, 
their stripes and badges were scarcely visible; their 
faces were often shockingly haggard; and yet their 
eyes flashed and their bearing was proud and con- 
fident. They knew that I trusted them and that 
they had never disappointed me. Pride in the deeds 
of their division inspired them. I spoke with a 
good many, pressed their hands; men who had dis- 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 273 

tinguished themselves in the recent battles I deco- 
rated with the cross. Then I distributed among 
them my small store of chocolate and cigarettes. 
And so, in all the bitterness of those days, a delight- 
ful and never-to-be-forgotten hour was spent in 
the circle of my well-tried front troops. 

Meantime, the French had got the village that 
lay before us under heavy fire and their artillery 
now began to sweep the meadows. I ordered the 
battalions to open out; and, as I drove away, loud 
hurrahs were hurled after me from the throats of 
my beloved "field-grays"; on all sides there was 
waving of caps and a hoisting of rifles. Without 
shame, I confess that the cheers, the shouts, the 
waving brought tears into my eyes; for I knew 
how hard and how desperate was the entire situa- 
tion. 

My Grenadiers at Seraincourt! They were the 
last troop whom, with flashing eyes and hurrahing 
voices, I saw march to battle. Dear, dear, trusty 
lads, each of whom my memory salutes gratefully 
from this island of mine. A few hours later on ar- 
riving at the Army Group quarters, I stood again 
in that other world of anguish and anxiety; fresh 
tidings of a severe and doubtful character awaited 
me from home. 

Next day, October 26, I received by telephone 
news of Ludendorff's resignation. In connection 
with the well-known incident of the Higher Com- 



274 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

mand's telegram to the troops on October 24, he 
had fallen a victim to Prince Max of Baden's Cabi- 
net question. I knew at once that this meant the 
end of things. I was informed that the intention was 
to appoint General Groner as his successor. I rang 
up the field-marshal general. With a clear knowl- 
edge of what it signified, I urgently adjured him to 
reconsider his purpose and implored him not to 
select this man in whom there was no trace of the 
spirit which alone could save us now. The field- 
marshal general, who doubtless felt constrained to 
comply with the views of the Imperial Government, 
was of a different opinion, and next day General 
Groner was appointed first quartermaster-general. 

On October 28, my adjutant, Miiller, returned 
from an official journey to the homeland. He 
brought the first evil news of mutiny in the navy. 
From his report, it appeared evident that the revolu- 
tion was already menacingly at hand in Germany; 
but that apparently nothing was being done at 
present to suppress the rising movement. With a 
clear appreciation of the position, Miiller proposed 
the posting of some reliable divisions behind the 
Army Group as soon as possible, so that one might 
have these troops ready at hand if necessity arose 
for their employment. This suggestion was un- 
fortunately not considered further; our attention 
was all too deeply engaged at the front and riveted, 
as in duty bound, on the troops under our care. 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 275 

From November 4 onward, my four armies, along 
their entire front, retreated towards the Antwerp- 
Meuse position, fighting hard as they retired and 
performing everything in perfect order and abso- 
lutely according to plan. 

At this time. General Groner, the new first 
quartermaster-general, paid us a visit. The chiefs 
of my four armies reported upon the situation of 
their various fronts. All of them laid stress on the 
strained condition of their troops and the entire lack 
of fresh reserves. But they were quite confident 
that the retreat to the Antwerp-Meuse position 
would be accomplished successfully and that the 
position would be held. 

Afterwards my own chief of staff made a final re- 
port, two points of which I recall. They were definite 
demands. The one was that the discussion of the 
Kaiser's position at home and in the press, must 
cease, since the troops were quite incapable of bear- 
ing this burden in addition to all the rest. The 
other demand was that the General Higher Com- 
mand must not issue instructions which they them- 
selves did not believe could be carried out; if, for 
instance, the retention of a position was ordered, 
the troops must be put in condition to hold it; 
confidence in the leadership was shaken by com- 
mands which the front was unable to obey because, 
in the given circumstances, it was impossible to 
carry them into effect. 

On November 5, the Higher Command of the 



276 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

Army Group shifted its quarters from Charleville 
to Waulsort, about 50 kilometres farther north. 
This small place lies half-way between Civet and 
Dinant in a ragged, rock-girt valley, which, at the 
time of our arrival, was filled with a thick, clammy 
fog — sombre and depressing. I lodged with a Bel- 
gian, named Count de Jonghe, a nobleman of agree- 
able tactfulness. In a long talk during the evening, 
he summarized his views on the causes of our break- 
down, which was now patent to the inhabitants. 
Germany, he said, had committed two grievous mis- 
takes: she ought to have made peace in the autumn 
of 1914; if she had then failed to obtain it, she ought 
to have appointed a civil dictator with unlimited 
powers and possessed of the energy necessary to 
secure order in the interior. 

On the same evening, Major von Bock, the first 
general staff officer of the Army Group, told me that 
he had been insulted in the open streets by a Land- 
sturm soldier from the lines of commimication. Two 
days later I made my first personal acquaintance 
with the revolution. I was driving with my orderly 
officer, Zobeltitz, along the Meuse road from Waul- 
sort to Civet to visit once more the troops who were 
to hold the Meuse line. A few kilometres from 
Waulsort, just as we reached a spot where the rail- 
way runs close beside the highroad, we saw a leave- 
train of men which had halted and was flying the red 
flag. Immediately afterwards, from the open and 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 277 

the broken windows my ears were greeted with the 
stupid cries of "Lights out! Knives out!" which 
formed a sort of watchword and slogan for all the 
hooligans and malcontents of that period. 

I stopped my car and, accompanied by Zobeltitz, 
walked up to the train. I ordered the men to alight, 
which they at once did. There may have been five 
or six hundred of them — a rather villainous-looking 
crowd, mostly Bavarians from Flanders. In front 
of me stood a very lamp-post of a Bavarian ser- 
geant. With his hands thrust deep into his trou- 
sers* pockets and displaying altogether a most pro- 
vocative air, he was the very picture of insubordina- 
tion. I rated him and told him to assume at once 
a more becoming deportment, such as was proper to 
a German soldier. The effect was instantaneous. 
The men began to press towards us, and I addressed 
them in urgent tones, endeavoring to touch their 
sense of honor. 

Even while I was speaking, I could see that I 
had won the contest. In the end, a mere lad of, 
perhaps, seventeen years, a Saxon with a frank 
boyish face and decorated with the iron cross, 
stepped forward and said: "Herr Kronprinz, don't 
take it ill; they are only silly phrases; we mean 
nothing by them; we all like you and we know that 
you always look after your soldiers well. You see, 
we have been travelling now for three days and have 
received no food or attention the whole time. No 



278 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

one troubles about us, and there are no officers 
whatever with us. Don't be angry with us." A 
general murmur of applause followed. I gave the 
lad my hand and then followed a comic close to the 
affair. The lad said: "We know you always have 
cigarettes for good soldiers; we've nothing left to 
smoke." I gave the men what cigarettes I had; al- 
though these "good soldiers" really did not deserve 
them; I did it simply because I appreciated their con- 
dition, which certainly was in part responsible for 
their nonsense; I felt clearly that, if everything be- 
hind the lines and at home were not out of joint, 
these men would have followed the right path. 

I narrate this episode of November 7 merely to 
show on what a weak footing the movement largely 
stood; it was fanned into flame by violent agitation; 
and, as the above incident proves, a calm and reso- 
lute attitude did not miss its object with the men, 
who were, on the whole, not fundamentally bad. 
Unfortunately, there was a complete lack of deter- 
mined action on the part of the home authorities, 
both civil and military. By the orders against shoot- 
ing, the road was paved for the revolution. 

Concerning the behavior of the troops in those 
days, it should be said that, despite the months of 
struggle that they had gone through, they carried on 
their retreat in perfect order and, in the main, with- 
out any important interference from the enemy, who 
followed hesitatingly. The prospect of the new 



THE GREAT COLLAPSE 279 

Meuse position, with its natural strength artificially 
increased, seemed to give the troops great encourage- 
ment as to the future. 

One episode remains to be recorded. On the 
sixth, the negotiators despatched by the German 
Government crossed the road between La Capelle 
and Guise within the area of the XVIII Army. 



CHAPTER VII 

SCENES AT SPA 

End of April, 1921. 

It is almost two months since I wrote the last of 
the above lines. As often as I have prepared my- 
self to record those last and bitterest experiences, 
which have occupied my thoughts a thousand times, 
there has come over me a revulsion from the torture 
of recalling the still fresh sorrows. Moreover, other 
cares and other griefs have kept me away from these 
pages. 

At the end of February I was at Doom; on the 
twenty-seventh my parents celebrated the forti- 
eth anniversary of their wedding-day. Celebrated? 
No, it was not a celebration. Everything in the 
beautiful and well-kept house was sad and depressed. 
My mother was confined to her couch, and her 
weakness permitted her only occasional hours of 
waking. She was so feeble that she could scarcely 
speak; and yet the slightest attention was received 
with "Thank you, my dear boy"; and then she 
gently stroked my hand. It made one grind one's 
teeth together. The foreboding that, on that day, 
I held her in my arms for the last time has never 
since left me. 

All subsequent reports damped every hope of re- 

280 



SCENES AT SPA 281 

covery. One could only pray: "Lord, let it not last 
long ! ** In six weeks' time the last sad news reached 
me on the island. 

We went to Doom; and during all the long hours 
of the journey, I was unable to grasp the idea that 
she would no more speak to me, that her kind eyes 
would no more be turned upon me. She was the 
magnet which attracted us children, wherever we 
might be, towards the parental home. She knew all 
our wishes, our hopes, our cares. Now she had been 
taken from us forever. 

Changed, empty, strange appeared to me park 
and house and everything. 

My poor father ! Whatever his outward demeanor, 
I knew that his inmost heart was shaken. His old 
pride, his determination not to allow others to see 
his emotion, his resolve to comport himself like a 
king, supported him so long as we and other people 
were present. But the solitude ! 

That night I was alone with my beloved mother 
for the last time. Through the hours of darkness I 
kept a long vigil beside her coffin. In that solemn, 
quiet chamber, with its heavy odors of wreaths and 
flowers and soft shine of the burning tapers, there 
floated before my memory an endless procession of 
pictures out of the past. 

Her joy when I reported to her as a ten-year-old 
lieutenant, and the parade went off all right not- 
withstanding the shortness of my legs and the diffi- 



282 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

culty I had of keeping step with the long-limbed 
grenadiers. 

Her beaming face when she held my bride in her 
arms for the first time and said: **My dear boy, you 
have made a good choice"; from that day onward 
till the end, a great love knitted together the two 
women. 

I saw her sitting at the bedside of my brothers 
Fritz and Joachim during a severe illness — night 
after night untiringly — a devoted nurse, a mother 
who would have immolated her own self. 

I saw her at court festivities, in all the splendor of 
the crown — a tall and noble figure with a wealth of 
prematurely gray hair above the fresh, kind face; 
while every word showed a simple, generous nature 
with the gift of attracting and understanding others. 

Then, ever and again, in her writing-room at the 
New Palace. — It is in the interval between my 
morning and afternoon duties. I have ridden over 
to the palace, and now, while she listens and replies, 
I walk up and down before her. She is my confessor 
who always finds the right advice and the best solu- 
tion of all my little difficulties; and in the heart of 
that seemingly unpolitical woman, there was vast 
room for the serious problems and for the greatness 
of the entire Fatherland. Her clear recognition of 
many an error caused her to suffer — in a quiet, hid- 
den way — far more anxiety than the outside world 
ever imagined. 




THE CROWN PRINCE AND CROWN PRINCESS AT WIERINGEN 



SCENES AT SPA 283 

Then the war-time — care upon care, care upon 
care. 

And then all that followed. 

I see her there in the garden of Doom House. 
She is seated in a little pony-carriage; and I hold 
her hand and walk beside her. "My boy," she 
says, **yes, it is beautiful here, but oh! it is not my 
Potsdam, the New Palace, my little rose-garden, 
our home. If you only knew how homesickness 
often gnaws at me. Oh, I shall never see my home 
again." 

Now she rests in the homeland earth to which 
her last longings went forth. 

Just a bit of the way (as far as Maam Station) 
I accompanied her on her homeward journey; 
then I turned back to my island here. 

Days of sadness succeeded; not an hour passed in 
which my thoughts were not with her; but what 
was told me in a thousand letters of how unfor- 
gotten she was in the homeland, of the love that 
had sprung up from the seed which she had sown, 
that, at least, was a great comfort to me. Then, 
too, my brother-in-law, the Duke of Brunswick, 
was with me for a few days. Sissy is to remain 
for the present at Doom, so as to lighten my father's 
sorrow in the first great loneliness and to bring a 
woman's voice into that beautiful and yet so friend- 
less house. 

But I must now proceed to chronicle what I 



284 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

have to say concerning that last and bitterest ex- 
perience of the breakdown. God knows it is more 
difficult for me than all that I have recorded hith- 
erto. 

On the evening of the 8th of November, 1918, 
I received at Waulsort an unexpected command 
from His Majesty to report myself to him next 
morning at Spa. Not a word as to what it con- 
cerned or what he wanted of me. — I had only the 
knowledge that this summons could not portend 
anything good and a foreboding of fresh agonizing 
conflicts. 

In cold, gloomy weather, I motored through a 
heavy fog that seemed to choke the whole country- 
side. Everything apathetic, comfortless, dreary and 
devastated; the half-demolished houses, their plaster 
crumbling from their damaged walls; the intermi- 
nable roads, ground by the violent jerkings of a 
hundred thousand wheels and pounded by the iron- 
shod hoofs of a hundred thousand horses. And 
those wan, haggard faces, so full of bitterness and 
sorrow and misery, as though their owners would 
never again be able to win through to fresh faith 
in life. 

The car jolted through fields of mud, flinging the 
brown mire about it in huge fountains; it rushed 
heedlessly past columns of weary soldiers and 
troops and groups of men who once had been soldiers 
and who, now disbanded, trudged their way laden 



SCENES AT SPA 285 

with indistinguishable chattels; it left behind it 
curses and cries and fists raised in the gray mist. 

On and on. 

Soon after midday we arrived at Spa, stiff and 
frozen to the marrow. 

The Kaiser was lodged in Villa Fraineuse just 
outside the town. 

General von Gontard, the court marshal, re- 
ceived me in the hall. His face wore a serious and 
very anxious look. In reply to my questions, all 
he did was helplessly to raise his hands; but the 
action said more than any words could have done. 

My chief of staff, Count Schulenburg, was there. 
He had been in Spa since the early morning, and, un- 
til my arrival, had been advocating our views with 
the Kaiser. Pale and manifestly much moved, 
this strong man, with a keen sense of responsibility 
and fine fidelity to his sovereign, proceeded, rapidly 
and in brief soldierly words, to give me an out- 
line of the incidents into whose development we 
were now being dragged and urgently to beg me to 
do everything to deter His Majesty from overhasty 
and irretrievable decisions. 

According to Schulenburg's report, the course of 
events so far had been as follows: 

In the early morning, my father had thoroughly 
discussed the situation with Major Niemann, the 
officer of his General Staff, and had resolved boldly 
to face the threatening revolution. With this firm 



286 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

resolve, the Kaiser had participated in a discussion 
at which the field-marshal general, with General 
Groner, Plessen, His Excellency Marshal von 
Hintze, Herr von Griinau and Major Niemann were 
present. The field-marshal general had opened the 
deliberations with a few words which clearly re- 
vealed that he was on the point of giving up every- 
thing: he must first ask His Majesty to permit him 
to resign, since what he had to say could, he felt, 
not be said by a Prussian officer to his King and lord. 

Only the Kaiser's head twitched. First let us 
hear what it is. 

Then General Groner had spoken. As Schulen- 
burg sketched things, I could see and hear Groner — 
Groner the new man who had been only a fortnight 
in the place vacated by Ludendorff, and was ham- 
pered by no such considerations as those which 
choked the words in the throat of the old field- 
marshal general. A new tone, which brusquely and 
aggressively broke away from all tradition, which 
endeavored, by despising the past, to gain inward 
strength for the coming death-blow. 

General Groner's words as reported to me by 
Schulenburg, had they been the ultimate truth, 
would indeed have signified the end: the military 
position of the armies desperate; the troops waver- 
ing and unreliable, with rations for a few days only 
and with hunger, dissolution and pillage threatening 
to follow after; the homeland blazing up in inextin- 



SCENES AT SPA 287 

guishable revolution; the reserves available, refrac- 
tory, disintegrating and rushing to the red flag; the 
whole hinterland, railways, telegraphs, Rhine bridges, 
depots and junctions in the hands of the revolution- 
aries; Berlin at the highest pitch of tension which, 
at any moment, might snap and bathe the city in 
blood; to turn the army upon the civil war at home 
with the enemy in the rear would be quite impossi- 
ble. These views of his and the field-marshal gen- 
eral's had been indorsed by the divisional chiefs 
and by most of the representatives of the General 
Higher Command. Although not expressly, this 
report contained implicitly a demand for my father's 
abdication. 

Speechless and deeply moved, my father had 
listened to these deplorably gloomy statements. A 
benumbing silence followed. Then, seeing from a 
movement on the part of my chief of staff that he 
wished to be heard, the Kaiser sprang up and said: 
— "Speak, Count! — Your opinion?" 
My chief of staff had replied as follows: — 
That he could not regard the remarks of the 
quartermaster-general as a true description of the 
state of affairs. For example, the Army Group of 
the Crown Prince, despite great difficulties and hard- 
ships, had fought brilliantly through the long autumn 
campaign and was still firm and unbroken in the 
hands of its leaders. After its enormous efforts, it 
was now exhausted, overtaxed and filled with the 



288 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

desire for repose. If a definite armistice should 
come about, if the troops were granted a few days* 
rest, the refreshment of sleep and tolerable rations, 
if the leaders were given a chance to come once 
more into closer touch with the men and to exer- 
cise influence over them, then the general frame of 
mind would improve. It would, indeed, be quite 
impossible to wheel round the troops of the whole 
west front to face civil war in Germany; but this 
was not within the limits of necessity. What was 
needed was resolute and manly resistance to ac- 
tivities which had unfortunately been allowed free 
play much too long, the immediate and energetic 
suppression of the insurgents at the centres of the 
movement, the rigorous re-establishment of order 
and authority ! — ^The question of rationing had been 
depicted by General Groner in much too sombre 
tints; the effects of energetic proceedings against 
the Bolshevists in the rear of the army would be a 
fresh rally of the loyal elements in the country and 
the smothering of the revolutionary movement. 
Hence there should be no yielding to the threats of 
criminal violence, no abdication, but no civil war 
either — only the armed restitution of order at the 
spots indicated. For this purpose the mass of the 
troops would, without question, stand loyally by 
their Kaiser. 

The Kaiser had accepted this view. Consequently, 
opposition had arisen between my chief of staff and 



SCENES AT SPA 289 

General Groner, who, in the course of this discussion, 
had persisted in his assertions that events had gone 
too far for the measures proposed by Schulenburg 
to stand any chance of success. According to his 
rendering, the ramifications of the insurgents cov- 
ered the entire homeland, the revolutionaries would 
indubitably cut off all supplies intended for any 
army operating against them, and, moreover, the 
army was no longer reliable, nor did it any longer 
support the Kaiser. 

The views put forward by General Groner found 
a certain confirmation in manifold telephonic mes- 
sages which arrived from the Imperial Chancery 
during the discussion; these reported sanguinary 
street fighting and the defection of the home troops 
to the ranks of the revolutionaries, and repeatedly 
demanded abdication. They evidently proceeded 
from a state of panic; and, on account of their ur- 
gent character, made a deep impression; but to 
what extent they were founded upon fact could 
not be tested. 

In spite of all this, the Kaiser had stood resolutely 
by his original decision. But, in face of the irrec- 
oncilable opposition between the two views of the 
situation and the logical conclusions involved, he had 
ultimately turned to General Groner and declared 
with great firmness that, in this exceedingly grave 
matter, he could not acquiesce in the opinion expressed 
by the general but must insist upon a written state- 



290 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

ment signed by the field-marshal general, von Hinden- 
burg, and by General Groner — a statement based 
upon the judgments to be obtained from all the army 
leaders of the west front. The notion of waging a 
civil war lay outside the scope of his consideration; 
but he held firmly to his desire to lead the army back 
home in good order after the conclusion of the armi- 
stice. 

General Groner had then adopted an attitude 
which seemed to indicate that he regarded all further 
discussion as a vain loss of time in face of a definitely 
fixed programme; he had brusquely and slightingly 
confined himself to remarking: "The army will 
march back home in good order under its leaders 
and commanding generals, but not under the leader- 
ship of Your Majesty." 

In reply to the agitated question of my father: 
"How do you come to make such a report? Count 
Schulenburg reports the reserve!" Groner said: "I 
have different information."* 



* It must be recorded here that General Groner made this report to 
my father long before the vote had been placed before the commanders at 
the front. What "other information," then, did the first quartermaster- 
general possess, and from which leader of the west front did it proceed? 
These questions still remain unanswered. From none of the four armies 
placed in my charge did I ever receive any report which could justify 
General Groner's conclusion in regard to the front or even concerning the 
rear of my armies. The information referred to by General Groner he 
must have received on the 7th or 8th of November, for at Charleville he 
was still in good spirits, on the 5th he had ardently taken the part of the 
Kaiser, and on the 6th the Gen. Higher Command wrote to the armies on 
the west front that, for the armies, there was no Kaiser question and that, 
true to their oath, they stood immutably loyal to their Chief War Lord. 



SCENES AT SPA 291 

In response to a further protest by my chief of 
staff, the field-marshal general had finally relin- 
quished his attitude of reserve. With every respect 
for the spirit of soldierly loyalty displayed in Schu- 
lenburg's views, he had come to the practical conclu- 
sion of General Groner, namely, that, on the basis of 
the information received by the Higher Command 
from home and from the armies, it must be assumed 
that the revolution could no longer be suppressed. 
Like Groner, he too, was unable to take upon himself 
responsibility for the trustworthiness of the troops. 

Finally, the Kaiser had closed the discussion with 
a repetition of his desire that the commanders-in- 
chief be asked for their views. "If you report to 
me," he said, "that the army is no longer loyal to 
me, I shall be prepared to go — but not till then !" 

From these discussions and decisions it was clear 
that the Kaiser was willing to sacrifice his person 
to the interests of the German people and to the 
maintenance of internal and external possibilities of 
peace. 

At the conclusion of the parley. Count Schulenburg 
had called particular attention to the fact that, in any 
decisions of the Kaiser*s, questions concerning the 
Imperial Crown must be carefully distinguished from 
those of the Prussian royal throne. At the very 
most, only an abdication of the Kaiser could be con- 
sidered; there was no need even at the worst of any 
talk of a renunciation of the throne of Prussia. For 



292 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

this standpoint he had propounded important rea- 
sons; and he had also expressed the opinion that the 
alarming telephonic messages from Berlin needed 
careful investigation before they could be made the 
basis of any resolve. 

My father had assured him that, in any circum- 
stances, he would remain King of Prussia and that, 
as such, he would not desert the army. Further- 
more, he had at once ordered that an immediate tele- 
phonic inquiry be made to the Governor of Berlin 
concerning the situation there; he had then walked 
into the garden accompanied by some of the gentle- 
men of his suite; while the field-marshal general, 
General Groner and Count von Schulenburg had 
remained behind in the council room. In the en- 
suing discussion on the last statements of Schulen- 
burg, the field-marshal general confessed to the 
opinion that the Kaiser must, in all circumstances, 
maintain himself as King of Prussia, whereas Gen- 
eral Groner remained sceptical of this and averse to 
such a claim. He stated that a free decision to this 
effect if taken by the Kaiser some weeks earlier 
might perhaps have effected a change in the situa- 
tion; but that, in his opinion, it now came too late 
to be of any value in combating the revolt now blaz- 
ing in Germany and spreading rapidly every moment. 

What had followed next had seemingly been cal- 
culated to justify this view of General Groner's — 
if it could be accepted as the actual truth concern- 



SCENES AT SPA 293 

ing the situation and the frame of mind in the 
homeland: 

The answer of the chief of the general staff with 
the Berlin Government, Colonel von Berge, had 
arrived and had brought a confirmation (albeit a 
qualified one) of the representations furnished by 
the Imperial Chancery — bloody street-fighting, de- 
sertion of the troops to the revolutionaries, no sort 
of means in the hands of the Government for com- 
bating the movement; furthermore, an appeal by 
Prince Max of Baden stating that civil war was 
inevitable unless His Majesty announced his ab- 
dication within the next few minutes. 

With these messages, the field-marshal general, 
General Groner and His Excellency von Hintze had 
hurried into the garden and were now reporting the 
matter to the Kaiser, while Count von der Schulen- 
burg was explaining the situation to me. 

I now went with my chief of staff to join the 
Kaiser. 

He stood in the garden surrounded by a group of 
gentlemen. 

Never shall I forget the picture of that half-score 
of men in their gray uniforms, thrown into relief 
by the withered and faded flower-beds of ending 
autumn, and framed by the surrounding mist-man- 
tled hills with their glorious foliage of vanishing 
green and every shade of brown, of yellow and of 
red. 



294 MExMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

The Kaiser stood there as though he had suddenly- 
halted in his agitated pacing up and down. Pas- 
sionately excited, he addressed himself to those near 
him with violently expressive gestures. His eyes 
were upon General Groner and His Excellency von 
Hintze; but a glance was cast now and then at the 
field-marshal general, who, with his gaze fixed on 
the distance, nodded silently; and an occasional 
look was also turned towards the white-haired Gen- 
eral von Plessen. Somewhat aloof from the group, 
stood General von Marschall, the Legation Coun- 
cillor von Griinau and Major von Hirschfeld. 

With their bowed attitudes, most of the men 
seemed oppressed by the thought that there was no 
egress from their entanglement — seemed, while the 
Kaiser alone spoke, to have been paralyzed into 
muteness. 

Catching sight of me, my father beckoned me to 
approach and, himself, came forward a few paces. 

And now, as I stood opposite him, I saw clearly 
how distraught were his features — how his emaciated 
and sallowed face twitched and winced. 

He left me scarcely time to greet the field-marshal 
general and the rest; hastily he addressed himself to 
me, and, while the others retired a little and General 
Groner returned to the house, he burst upon me 
with all he had to say. 

He poured out to me the facts without the slight- 
est reserve, reiterated much of what Schulenburg had 



SCENES AT SPA 295 

reported just before, supplemented the particulars, 
and gave me a deeper insight into the character of 
the catastrophe threatening to spring from the insta- 
bility and the disintegration of will and energy. 
Only just arrived from my Army Group and the 
seclusion of the front, and while I was still endeavor- 
ing to grasp and master all that Schulenburg had 
told me, I now learned that, the previous evening, be- 
fore he called me to Spa, a thorough consultation 
had taken place concerning the situation, in which 
General Groner had urgently dissuaded the Kaiser 
from returning home — from attempting "to pene- 
trate into the interior." Insurrectionary masses 
were on their way to Verviers and Spa, and there 
were no longer any trustworthy troops whatever! 
Nor, said he, durst my father proceed to the front 
with any such intention as to die fighting; in view 
of the approaching armistice, such a step might give 
rise to false deductions on the part of the Entente, 
and thus cause even greater mischief and still fur- 
ther bloodshed. My father also informed me that, 
according to the statements of these gentlemen, the 
cities of Cologne, Hanover, Brunswick and Munich 
were in the hands of the Workmen's and Soldiers' 
Councils, while in Kiel and Wilhelmshafen the revo- 
lution had broken out, and that, in view of the ap- 
parent necessity for his abdication as Kaiser, he was 
going to transfer to the field-marshal general the 
chief command of the German army. 



296 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

Notwithstanding my great perturbation, I at once 
tried to intervene and to check, wherever, in my 
opinion, it appeared possible, despite the hitherto 
precipitate course of events, to call a halt, and wher- 
ever a halt was essential, unless everything were to 
be lost. Even if the abdication of the Kaiser as 
such were really no longer to be avoided, his king- 
ship of Prussia must, at any rate, remain im- 
shaken. 

"Of course!" The words were uttered in such a 
matter-of-fact way and his eyes were so firmly fixed 
on mine that much appeared to me to have been 
gained already. 

I also emphasized the necessity for his remaining 
with the army in all circumstances, and I sug- 
gested his coming with me and marching back at 
the head of my troops. 

General Groner now joined the other group again, 
accompanied by Colonel Heye, who, as I learned, 
had come from a conference of front officers con- 
voked as a sort of council by the Higher Command 
without consulting the chief commanders of the 
army or the army groups, the vote of this council 
being taken by Groner to be decisive. 

In reply to the Kaiser's command. Colonel Heye 
reported to the following effect: The question had 
been put to the commanders whether, in the event 
of a civil war in the homeland, the troops could be 
relied upon; the answer was in the negative; the 



SCENES AT SPA 297 

trustworthiness of the troops had not been uncondi- 
tionally guaranteed by certain of these gentlemen. 

Count von der Schulenburg intervened. He ad- 
duced what we, who were familiar with our men, 
knew from personal experience; above all, this one 
thing, that the great majority of the army, if faced 
with the question whether they would break their 
oaths and desert their sovereign and Chief War Lord 
in the time of need, would certainly prove true to 
their Kaiser. 

At this. General Groner merely shrugged his 
shoulders and sneered superciliously, "Military 
oaths? War Lords? Those are, after all, only 
words; those are, when all is said, mere ideas." 

Here were two systems which no bridge could 
join, two conceptions which no mutual comprehen- 
sion could reconcile. The one was the Prussian offi- 
cer, loyal in his duty and devotion to Kaiser and to 
King, ready to live and die in the fulfilment of the 
oath which he had taken as a young man; the other, 
the man who doubtless never had taken things so ear- 
nestly or with such a sense of sacred obligation, who 
had regarded them rather as symbol and "idea," 
who was always desirous of being "modem" and 
whose more supple mentality now freed itself with- 
out any difficulty from engagements which threat- 
ened to become awkward. 

Once more Schulenburg replied, telling the general 
that such statements as his only showed that he did 



298 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

not know the heart and mind of the men at the front, 
that the army was true to its oath and that, at the 
end of those four years of war, it would not abandon 
its Kaiser. 

He was still speaking, when he was interrupted by 
His Excellency von Hintze, who had meantime re- 
ceived further reports from Berlin and wished to lay 
the evil tidings before the Kaiser. The Imperial 
Chancellor, Prince Max, he said, tendered his resig- 
nation and reported that the situation had become 
so extremely menacing in Berlin that the monarchy 
could no longer be saved unless the Kaiser resolved 
upon immediate abdication. 

The Kaiser received the news with grave silence. 
His firmly compressed lips were colorless; his face 
was livid and had aged by years. Only those who 
knew him as I did could penetrate that mask of 
calmness and self-control maintained with such an 
effort in spite of the impatiently urgent demand of 
the chancellor. 

When Hintze had finished, he gave a brief nod; 
and his eyes sought those of the field-marshal gen- 
eral as though searching them for strength and suc- 
cor in his anguish. But he found nothing. Motion- 
less, deeply touched, silenced by despair, the great 
old man stood paralyzed, while his King and lord, 
whom he had served so long and so faithfully as a 
soldier, moved on to the fulfilment of his destiny. 

The Kaiser was alone. Not one of all the men of 



SCENES AT SPA 299 

the General Higher Command, not one of the men 
whom Ludendorff had once welded into a firm en- 
tity, hastened to his assistance. Here, as at home, 
disruption and decay. Here, where an iron will 
should have been busy enforcing itself in all the posi- 
tions of authority and gathering all the reliable forces 
at the front to make itself effective, there was only 
one vast void. The spirit of General Groner was 
now dominant, and that spirit left the Kaiser to his 
fate. 

Hoarse, strange and unreal was my father's voice 
as he instructed Hintze, who was still waiting, to 
telephone the Imperial Chancellor that he was pre- 
pared to renounce the Imperial Crown, if thereby 
alone general civil war in Germany were to be 
avoided, but that he remained King of Prussia and 
would not leave his army. 

The gentlemen were silent. The state secretary 
was about to depart, when Schulenburg pointed out 
that it was, in any case, essential first to make a 
written record of this highly significant decision of 
His Majesty. Not until such a document had been 
ratified and signed could it be communicated to the 
Imperial Chancellor. 

The Kaiser expressed his thanks. Yes, he said, 
that was true; and he instructed Lieutenant-General 
von Plessen, General von Marschall, His Excellency 
von Hintze and Count von der Schulenburg to draw 
up the declaration and submit it to him for signature. 



300 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

We therefore went indoors again. 

While the gentlemen were still at work on the 
document, there came another telephone call from 
Berlin. The chef of the Imperial Chancery, His Ex- 
cellency von Wahnschaffe, asked urgently for the 
declaration of abdication; he was informed by Count 
von der Schulenburg that the decision already come 
to by His Majesty was being formulated and would 
be forthwith despatched to the Imperial Govern- 
ment. 

The document did not contain the abdication of the 
Kaiser, but expressed his willingness to abdicate if 
thereby alone further bloodshed and, above all, civil 
war would be avoided. It also stressed the fact 
that he remained King of Pmssia and would lead 
the troops back home in perfect order. 

On the basis of this decision, there lay upon the 
chancellor the onus of reporting afresh concerning 
the development of the situation at home. Then, 
and not before, the final imperial decision would 
have followed. 

His Excellency von Hintze undertook to telephone 
the wording of the document to the Imperial Chan- 
cery. 

It was now one o'clock, and we proceeded to lunch. 
That silent meal, in a bright, white room whose 
table was decked with flowers but surrounded only 
by bitter anguish and despairing grief, is among 
the most horrible of my recollections. Not one of 



! 



SCENES AT SPA 301 

us but masked his face, not one who did not convul- 
sively endeavor, for that half-hour, to hide his un- 
easiness and not to talk of the phantom which lurked 
behind him and could not for a single moment be 
forgotten. Every mouthful seemed to swell and 
threaten to choke us. The whole meal resembled 
some dismal funeral repast. 

After this painful lunch, His Majesty remained in 
conversation with me and Schulenburg. A few min- 
utes after two o'clock, he was called away by Gen- 
eral von Plessen, as State Secretary von Hintze, 
while telephoning to Berlin, had been surprised by a 
fresh communication. 

We others remained behind in anxious suspense, 
fearing that some totally unforeseen incident had oc- 
curred which would still further complicate the al- 
ready bewildered and confused situation. Those 
few minutes seemed like an age to me. 

Presently Schulenburg and I were ordered to the 
Kaiser. 

Notwithstanding his outward and forcibly as- 
sumed self-control and dignity, he was excessively 
agitated. As though still in doubt whether what 
he had just passed through could be reality and 
truth, he told us that he had just received informa- 
tion from the Imperial Chancery to the effect that 
a message announcing his abdication as Kaiser (and 
as King of Prussia) and, simultaneously, declaring 
my renunciation in a similar sense had been issued 



302 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

by Prince Max of Baden and disseminated by- 
Wolff's Bureau without awaiting the declaration of 
the Kaiser or consulting me in the matter; further, 
that the Prince had resigned his post of Imperial 
Chancellor and had been appointed Imperial Re- 
gent, while the social-democratic Reichstag deputy, 
Ebert, was now Imperial Chancellor. 

We were all so dazed and paralyzed by this start- 
ling news that for the moment we could hardly speak. 
Then we immediately endeavored to ascertain and 
establish the sequence of these unexampled proceed- 
ings: 

His Excellency von Hintze had just begun to 
telephone the declaration drawn up by His Majesty, 
when he was interrupted. This declaration, he was 
told, was quite futile; it must be the complete abdi- 
cation, as Kaiser and as King of Prussia also, and 
Herr von Hintze must listen to what was about to 
be 'phoned him I The state secretary had protested 
against this interruption and had declared that the 
decision of His Majesty must now be heard before 
anything else. This he proceeded to read ; but he had 
no sooner finished than Berlin informed him that a 
declaration had already been published by Wolff's 
Bureau and immediately afterwards communicated 
to the various troops by wireless telegrams; this decla- 
ration stated: "The Kaiser and King has resolved to 
abdicate the throne. The Imperial Chancellor re- 
mains in office till the questions connected with the 



SCENES AT SPA 303 

abdication of the Kaiser, the renunciation of the 
throne by the Crown Prince of the German Empire 
and of Prussia and the appointment to the regency 
are settled. ..." The state secretary, von Hintze, 
had forthwith entered a categorical protest against 
this proclamation, which had been issued without 
the Kaiser's authorization and did not represent in 
the least His Majesty's decisions. Von Hintze had 
repeatedly demanded the presence of the Imperial 
Chancellor himself at the telephone; and Prince Max 
of Baden had then, in reply to Hintze's inquiry, per- 
sonally acknowledged his authorship of the pub- 
lished proclamation and declared himself prepared 
to accept the responsibility for doing so. 

Thus, he did not, for one moment, deny that he 
was the originator of this incomprehensible act, 
namely, publishing, without His Majesty's authoriza- 
tion, decisions ostensibly his which he had never 
agreed to, in such a form, and in a way that, to say 
the least, was casual, forestalling my own decisions 
in a matter that had not yet been broached even by 
a single word. 

In the excited and credulous mood of the people 
at home and of the troops, it was clear to us that, by 
the extraordinary behavior of the Prince, the appear- 
ance of an accomplished fact had been created which 
was to cut the ground we stood upon from under 
our feet. 

With a clearer judgment as to what had hap- 



304 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

pened to His Majesty and to me, and clearer views 
concerning what was now necessary, we passed 
over into the room where the other gentlemen were 
assembled. 

Great consternation at the monstrous proceedings 
seized them also. Cries of indignation mingled with 
suggestions as to how this crafty coup was to be 
met. 

Schulenburg and I importuned His Majesty never, 
under any circumstances, to submit to this coup 
d'etat, but to oppose the machinations of the Prince 
with every possible means and to abide imalterably 
by his previously formed resolution. The Count 
also emphasized the fact that this incident rendered 
it all the more essential for the Kaiser, as Chief War 
Lord, to remain with the army. 

In this advice we found some support from General 
von Marschall, and especially also from the old 
Colonel-General von Plessen, whose faithful and 
chivalrous nature and strong soldierly instinct burst 
through the otherwise courtier-like formalities usually 
carefully observed by him and revolted indignantly 
against the disgraceful blow aimed at his Kaiser and 
the entire dynasty. It was of great importance 
that, by personal inquiry, he demonstrated the un- 
tenability of Groner's assertion that the troops of 
the headquarters had become unreliable and no 
longer afforded the Kaiser sufficient protection. 

Count von der Schulenburg and I offered to 



SCENES AT SPA 305 

undertake the subjection of the revolutionary ele- 
ments at home, proposing first to restore order in 
Cologne. But this suggestion the Kaiser declined 
to entertain, as he would have no war of Germans 
against Germans. 

Finally, he declared repeatedly and with great 
emphasis that he abode by his decision to abdicate 
if necessary as Kaiser but that he remained King of 
Prussia and, as such, would not leave the troops. 
He instructed General von Plessen, General von 
Marschall and His Excellency von Hintze to report 
at once to the field-marshal general concerning 
what had happened in Berlin and his own attitude. 

Somewhat encouraged by this firm mood of my 
father's, who now seemed to see his way clearly 
through all the entanglements and difficulties, I 
took leave of him, my duties as commander-in-chief 
requiring my presence in the headquarters of the 
Army Group at Vielsalm. 

As I held his hand in mine, I never imagined that 
I should not see him again for a year and that it 
would then be in Holland. 

Count von der Schulenburg remained in Spa. 

It was from him, and not from personal experi- 
ence, that I gathered my information concerning 
the further events of that fatal 9th of November 
in Spa. 

Schulenburg, who, together with me, had taken 
leave of the Kaiser, had been called back by him 



306 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

once more. My father had repeated: **I remain 
King of Prussia and, as such, I do not abdicate; 
and I also remain with the troops ! " Then, as it was 
impossible to recognize the revolutionary Govern- 
ment in Berlin, the question of the armistice was 
discussed. Who was to conclude it? His Majesty 
decided that Field-Marshal von Hindenburg should 
take over the supreme command and be responsible 
for conducting the negotiations. At the close of the 
conversation, the Kaiser held out his hand to Count 
Schulenburg and repeated: "I remain with the 
army. Tell the troops so !" 

On leaving His Majesty, Schulenburg proceeded 
to the quarters of the field-marshal general, where, 
together with General Groner, General von Mar- 
schall, State Secretary von Hintze and the legation 
councillor, von Griinau, a conference was com- 
menced at half past three concerning the situation 
created by Berlin. General Groner declared that 
there were no military means of counteracting the 
abdication proclaimed in Berlin. At the suggestion 
of His Excellency von Hintze it was decided to draw 
up a written protest against the declaration of abdi- 
cation which had been proclaimed without the con- 
sent or approval of the Kaiser, and to have this docu- 
ment signed by the Kaiser and deposited in a secure 
place. In discussing the personal safety of the j 
Kaiser, for which General Groner declined all re- 
sponsibility, the question was raised as to what 



SCENES AT SPA 307 

domicile the Kaiser could select if any development 
of affairs should force him to go abroad, and Hol- 
land was mentioned. Count Schulenburg stood 
alone in his opinion that it would be a grave mistake 
if His Majesty left the army. He urged that His 
Majesty should join the Army Group, the way 
being open. 

Fully confident in the Kaiser's firm resolve. Count 
von Schulenburg, accompanied by the other mem- 
bers of the Army Group Staff, had then driven back 
to Vielsalm, where his presence was urgently re- 
quired on account of the tense situation at the 
front. 

As I stated in recounting events at Spa on Novem- 
ber 9, the views obtained from a conference of officers 
from the front by Colonel Heye's submitting to them 
certain questions were adduced as evidence in sup- 
port of the chief quartermaster-general's opinion 
on the prevailing mood of the troops at the front. 
At my instance an officer of the Army Group Gen- 
eral Staff, who had accompanied Count Schulen- 
burg to Spa, made a record of the character and the 
procedure of this council convoked directly by the 
General Higher Command. I append this docu- 
ment here as a key to the temper and the mental 
condition prevalent at Spa and because it is necessary 
to a right understanding of what took place. On 
account of the relations of the officer to the service, 
his name is suppressed. 



308 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

, 14, XI, '19. 

My Experiences at General Headquarters on 9, XI, 

1918. (Written from memory.*) 

In the night of the 8th-9th, November, General 
Count von der Schulenburg received a telephone 
call from Major von Stiilpnagel ordering him to 
come to Spa on November 9. Major von Bock 
took the message. No information was given as 
to why Count Schulenburg should come or who 
wished to see him. — Count Schulenburg was rather 
astonished when Bock brought him the message, 
but he at once gave orders for his departure on the 
9th. He appointed Captain X of the General Staff, 
Orderly Officer Lieutenant Y and myself to accom- 
pany him. The same morning, instructions had 
been given to transfer the quarters of the Upper 
Command of the Army Group from Waulsort to 
Vielsalm. 

At 8.30 a. m. on November 9, we reached the Hotel 
Britannique in Spa. On our arrival, we were struck 
by the fact that, in the hall of the hotel there was 
assembled a large body of officers not belonging to 
the Higher Command and that others were continu- 
ally arriving. They were exclusively officers from 
the front; no commander-in-chief, commanding gen- 
erals, chiefs of staff or other General Staff officers 
were present. 

* Use has also been made of certain notes written by Captain X and 
myself on December 2, 1918, and now in the possession of Count Schu- 
lenburg. 



SCENES AT SPA 309 

Count Schulenburg at once proceeded to the 
Operations Department on the first floor in order 
to inquire the reasons for his being summoned. On 
the way up-stairs he met Colonel Heye. This officer 
was manifestly surprised to see Count Schulen- 
burg. After a short conversation, which I could not 
hear, Schulenburg returned to me, saying: — "We 
are evidently not wanted here at all. We have 
rushed into an affair which does not concern us, but 
we will see what is really going on !" 

From the numerous officers standing around, we 
learned that they had all been ordered to attend a 
meeting at 9 a. m. Apparently, from each of the 
divisions of the army groups Rupprecht, Kron- 
prinz and Gallwitz, a selected officer, divisional 
commander and infantry brigade or infantry regi- 
ment commander had been summoned and had been 
rapidly brought along by motor-car. No informa- 
tion concerning these orders had reached the Upper 
Command of the Army Group. The reason for the 
conference could only be guessed. The first idea 
was that it concerned the expected armistice. But 
rumors were circulating about measures to oppose 
the spread of the revolutionary movement in Ger- 
many; there was un verifiable news of civil war in 
the homeland, of the westward advance of mutinous 
sailors through Aix-la-Chapelle, Bonn and Coblenz, 
of the blockading of the railways along the Rhine 
and the consequent entire stoppage of the com- 



310 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

missariat. From the few members of the General 
Higher Command whom I managed to see, no 
further information was to be obtained in the hurry 
of the moment. Those whom I saw appeared de- 
jected and rather desponding. It must be added here 
that, for nearly a fortnight, the Upper Command of 
the Army Group had received through the post 
neither newspapers nor letters and that we were, 
therefore, inadequately informed as to the situation 
at home, while the front had been living for weeks 
on nothing but rumors. Hence I observed that the 
officers arriving from the front accepted without any 
criticism, even very unfavorable reports circulating 
in the conference. A suitable soil for pessimism 
was, moreover, prepared in them by the fact that 
almost all had been fetched, just as they were, from 
the retreating battles in which they had been fight- 
ing for weeks and which were excessively exhaust- 
ing and in every way depressing; most of them, 
too, had travelled, in many cases hundreds of kilo- 
metres, in open cars and clad in thin coats; and they 
were cold, unwashed and unfed. 

Soon after the conversation with Colonel Heye, 
Count Schulenburg, together with Captain X and 
myself, went to the hotel dining-room, where the 
officers from the front were assembling. In talk- 
ing to various acquaintances, my impression was 
deepened that, for the reasons already adduced, 
these officers were in a very depressed mood. Mean- 



SCENES AT SPA 311 

time, Colonel-General von Plessen and General von 
Marschall had entered the room. Their dejected 
spirits were noticeable. When they caught sight of 
Count Schulenburg, who stood near me, they at once 
came up and commenced talking to him. I could 
only hear fragments of the conversation and guess 
its general tenor. But, almost at the outset. Count 
Schulenburg said to the two of them very sharply: 
— "Have you all gone mad here?" Later he said, 
among other things, "The army stands firmly by the 
Kaiser." I noticed that Colonel-General von Ples- 
sen and General Marschall drew fresh confidence 
from the conversation with Count Schulenburg; 
and I heard the words "Schulenburg must go with 
us at once to the Kaiser." The meeting had not 
yet been opened, and Colonel-General von Plessen 
and General v. Marschall very soon took Count 
Schulenburg out of the room and drove with him 
to His Majesty. — Captain X, Lieutenant Y and I 
stayed behind. Captain X and I decided to remain 
at the meeting, although we both felt that we were 
anything but welcome there. 

About nine o'clock, Field-Marshal General von 
Hindenburg, accompanied by Colonel Heye and a 
few other members of the Higher Command, en- 
tered the room. The field-marshal, having wel- 
comed the officers assembled by his orders, thanked 
them warmly for all that they had hitherto done; 
he then characterized the situation as serious but 



312 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

not desperate, and proceeded to explain the object 
of the meeting. In Germany, he said, revolution 
had broken out and, in some places, blood had al- 
ready flowed. The resignation of the Kaiser was 
being demanded. The Higher Command hoped to 
be able to oppose this demand, if the requisite assur- 
ances were given them by the army at the front. 
On these questions which Colonel Heye would pres- 
ently lay before them, the gentlemen were to ex- 
press their views. In further delineation of the 
position of affairs, the field-marshal stated roughly 
that it was a question for His Majesty whether he 
could march to Berlin at the head of the entire army 
in order to recover there the Imperial and Royal 
Crown. For this purpose, however — ^no armistice 
having as yet been concluded and the railways not 
being available — the whole army, with the enemy 
of course following rapidly in its rear, would have 
to wheel round and march for two or three weeks 
fighting all the way in the endeavor to reach Berlin. 
Special emphasis was laid by the field-marshal upon 
the difficulties of getting supplies of all kinds, since 
everything was in the hands of the insurgents, and 
he laid stress on the fatigues and privations to which 
the troops would be unceasingly subjected. 

After this description of the situation — all of 
whose points were given by the field-marshal, not 
by Colonel Heye — the former left the meeting. I 
remember that my first impression, as I uttered 



SCENES AT SPA 313 

it to Captain X, was something like this: — It is 
regrettable that the generally revered field-mar- 
shal, whom many of those present had certainly 
just seen for the first time, should have been obliged 
to address them on such a sad matter and that he 
had given them a sketch of the military situation 
which many critical minds could only regard with 
considerable scepticism. For me there could be no 
doubt that, after such a representation of affairs, 
only negative answers could be expected. 

Meanwhile, the attendance at the meeting was 
continually being increased by new arrivals, though 
many did not get in till after midday, when the an- 
swer to the questions had been long since reported 
to His Majesty. These questions — two or three in 
number — were put to the meeting by Colonel Heye. 
Their wording has escaped my memory; but roughly 
it was asked whether, under the watchword "For the 
Kaiser," the Higher Command could, with any pros- 
pect of success, call upon the troops at the front 
to march to Berlin and thus unloose a civil war, or 
whether the army could no longer be had for this 
purpose. Colonel Heye requested the gentlemen 
to consider this important matter each for himself 
and uninfluenced by one another. After the lapse 
of a certain time, he would invite the gentlemen to 
come to him and state their views, as far as possible, 
general command by general command, beginning 
with the right wing. 



314 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

What replies Colonel Heye received is unknown 
to me; but, as already indicated, I do not doubt, 
from what had passed, that the vast majority of them 
were in the negative. As I learned afterwards, all 
the officers from the front who took part in the con- 
ference were pledged to secrecy by Colonel Heye 
and gave their hand on it. No such request was 
put to Captain X or myself. 

My judgment upon the conference and the inter- 
rogation of the front-line commanders may be for- 
mulated as follows: — 

Considering the importance of the verdict to be 
given by each individual officer ordered to Spa, it 
was bad management to interrogate these men who, 
in many cases, were physically and psychically re- 
duced without giving them an opportunity of re- 
cuperation or giving them time mentally to digest 
the news placed before them in reference to the state 
of affairs at home. It was noticeable in the after- 
noon how changed these same officers were in appear- 
ance after they had rested a bit, had washed and 
dressed, had limched and lighted a cigar. 

It was an incomprehensible omission to leave un- 
summoned the commanders-in-chief, the command- 
ing generals and the chiefs of staff, to hear, as it 
were, the officers from the front behind their backs. 
Did the General Higher Command fear their judg- 
ment? For that there was no occasion. From the 



SCENES AT SPA 315 

Higher Command of the Crown Prince Army Group, 
at any rate, they had all along, and especially during 
the last few weeks and months, heard nothing but 
the most candid pronoimcements as to the fighting 
capacity of the troops. Unfortunately, their state- 
ments had not always met with the proper considera- 
tion. 

The picture of the situation from which the com- 
manders were to form their judgment was so sombre 
that an answer in favor of His Majesty was scarcely 
to be expected. On such an hypothesis, the army 
was not to be won over for the Kaiser. Moreover, 
a large proportion of the front officers doubtless 
lacked the analytic capacity and tactical judgment 
requisite for getting to the very heart of this mo- 
mentous situation. 

If, as it would now appear, the significance of the 
interrogation was whether the Kaiser could remain 
with his army or not, it was a culpable omission not 
to have pointed out more explicitly the consequences 
which might ensue from their replies and therefore 
no detailed representation was given of what the 
position would be if His Majesty failed to remain 
Chief War Lord. So far as I am aware, the question 
whether His Majesty would be safe with the troops 
was never put. 

Not until 4.30 p. m. did Count Schulenburg re- 
turn to the hotel. Captain X, Lieutenant Y and 



316 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

I had spent most of the time waiting in the hotel, 
without being able to ascertain anything of any 
significance from any one. Count Schulenburg was 
greatly agitated. Briefly and with intense indigna- 
tion he described what had happened. As the most 
essential points of what he told us, I recall es- 
pecially the following: — ^We have no longer any 
Kaiser. A consultation has just been held at the 
field-marshal's villa as to whether His Majesty shall 
be sent off to-night to Holland. Groner says he can 
no longer guarantee his safety for another night. 
Bolshevists are, he asserts, marching on Spa from 
Verviers. The verdict of the front officers brought 
by Heye has turned out to be in the negative. My 
objections that the army is loyal and abides by its 
oath were shelved by Groner with the words: "Loy- 
alty to King and military oaths are, after all, mere 
ideas!" I could not carry my demand that the 
commanders-in-chief and the commanding generals 
should have a hearing. On my departure His 
Majesty promised me he would remain King of 
Prussia and stay with the army. Concerning every- 
thing else that occurred in His Majesty's villa and 
the field-marshal's and what Count Schulenburg 
told us further, exact information is to be found in 
the record of the events at Spa on November 9, as 
since published in the press. I would emphasize 
the fact that the particulars contained therein co- 
incide perfectly with what Count Schulenburg told 



SCENES AT SPA 317 

us at the Hotel Britannique and during the return 
journey to Vielsalm, /. e., while still under the first 
impressions of what he had just experienced. 

Signed, 

pro tern, in the General Staff of the 
Higher Command of the Crown Prince Army Group. 

On the top of all the exciting events of that day 
the night brought me a letter from my father which 
was irreconcilable with the last impressions which I 
and the chef of my General Staff had carried away 
with us from Spa, and destroyed all the hope and con- 
fidence we had cherished concerning a restoration of 
the old order of things. The letter confronted me 
with unalterable facts which could not but change 
the course of my destiny and turn me aside from the 
path which I had hitherto regarded as the only 
proper one and which, relying upon my rights and 
obligations, I had intended unswervingly to follow. 

My father's letter ran: — 

"My dear boy, 
"As the Field-marshal cannot guarantee my safety 
here and will not pledge himself for the reliability of 
the troops, I have decided, after a severe inward 
struggle, to leave the disorganized arm^y. Berlin is 
totally lost; it is in the hands of the Socialists, and 
two governments have been formed there — one 
with Ebert as Chancellor and one by the Indepen- 



318 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

dents. Till the troops start their march home, I 
recommend your holding out at your post and keep- 
ing the troops together! God willing, I trust we 
shall meet again. General von Marschall will give 
you further information. 

"Your deeply-bowed father, 
(signed) "WILHELM." 

I had no particulars concerning the circumstances 
which had been cogent enough to force the Kaiser, 
in a few hours, to give up everything and to desist 
from his determination to stand by his kingship. 
For the present, we could only assume that the 
Kaiser had been rendered pliable by the influence of 
those men whose views Count Schulenburg and I 
had combated with all our might and who had thus 
been paralyzed so long as we were in Spa. 

Details of what took place on that fatal afternoon 
only came to my knowledge very much later. I 
gathered them from conversations with His Majesty 
and the gentlemen of his suite and from the written 
records of various participators. 

From these it appeared that, after the departure 
of Count Schulenburg, a report was made to His 
Majesty, the field-marshal, Generals Groner and 
von Marschall, His Excellency von Hintze and Herr 
von Griinau. Later on Admiral Scheer also joined 
the party. The Kaiser was most urgently pressed 
to issue his abdication and to start for Holland, 



SCENES AT SPA 319 

Emphasis was laid on the fact that fifty officers from 
all parts of the army had expressed the opinion that 
the troops at the front were no longer to be trusted. 
It was declared that, in these circumstances, the 
Kaiser must leave the collapsing army and go to 
Holland. Groner emphasized the fact that the 
General Staff was of the same conviction. For His 
Majesty, the attitude adopted by the field-marshal 
general was decisive. No final decision seems to 
have been formed. His Majesty only agreed to 
preparatory steps being taken for his journey to 
Holland. 

After the conference had been closed, the Kaiser 
said to Count Dohna, who reported himself from 
furlough: "I have answered Groner categorically 
that I have now done with him; despite all sugges- 
tions, I remain in Spa." To his two aides-de-camp 
he remarked: "I am staying the night in the villa; 
provide yourselves with arms and ammunition. The 
field-marshal tells me that we may have to reckon 
with Bolshevist attacks." 

It was not until after a further discussion with 
Colonel-General von Plessen and Herr von Griinau, 
that the Kaiser decided not to pass the night in 
Villa Fraineuse but in the train at Spa, for which he 
gave the necessary orders. Further representations 
— made at the instance of the field-marshal general 
after supper and based, at his wish, upon the great 
danger of Bolshevist attacks from Aix-la-Chapelle 



320 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

and Verviers — were needed to induce the Kaiser to 
leave. Major Niemann, the General Staff officer 
of the Higher Command attached to the Kaiser, has 
furnished a description of what occurred. Accord- 
ing to this account, the resolve of His Majesty in the 
course of the afternoon and evening of November 9, 
developed as follows: 

"Between 4 and 5 o'clock in the afternoon, Field- 
Marshal von Hindenburg and State Secretary von 
Hintze reported to His Majesty that the situation 
was continually growing worse and requested him to 
consider crossing the frontier into neutral territory 
as the last resort. The field-marshal made use of 
the words: *I cannot assume the responsibility for 
the Kaiser's being dragged to Berlin by muti- 
nous troops and there handed over as a prisoner to 
the Revolutionary Government.' His Majesty de- 
clared his assent to preparatory steps being taken 
by His Excellency von Hintze for the possible recep- 
tion of His Majesty in Holland. After this conver- 
sation His Majesty again gave personal instructions 
for measures of security to be adopted during his 
stay in Spa. 

"Towards 7 p. m., His Excellency von Hintze 
and Colonel-General von Plessen again came to 
request His Majesty, in their own name and in the 
name of the field-marshal, to leave for Holland 
that night. The situation at home and in the army, 
said the state secretary, made a speedy decision 



SCENES AT SPA 321 

by His Majesty essential. The possibility of His 
Majesty's being seized by his own troops, as already 
stated by the field-marshal, was getting nearer 
and nearer. — ^At first, His Majesty yielded to this 
pressure. Subsequently, however, on calm reflec- 
tion. His Majesty came to the decision not to leave 
but to remain with the army and to fight to the 
last. On the way to the royal train, in which the 
greater part of the suite lived and in which all meals 
were taken, His Majesty, about 7.45 p. m., com- 
municated this decision to his aides-de-camp, von 
Hirschfeld and von Ilsemann. On reaching the 
royal train, he proceeded to General von Gontard 
and told him expressly that he would not follow the 
advice given him by the Higher Command to leave 
the army and the country; on the contrary, he would 
stay with his army to the end and risk his life. 
The demand that he should leave the army was, he 
said, preposterous. 

"His Majesty expressed himself in the same sense 
to Colonel-General von Plessen and to General 
Baron Marshal. 

"By supper-time (8.30 p. m.) the idea of departure 
appeared to be finally given up. 

"After supper, /. e., about 10 o'clock. Baron von 
Griinau appeared under instructions from His Ex- 
cellency von Hintze, and reported to His Majesty 
that both Field-marshal von Hindenburg and State 
Secretary von Hintze had come to the conclusion 



322 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

that His Majesty must start for Holland without 
delay. The situation had become untenable, as 
the insurrectionary movement threatened to travel 
from Aix-la-Chapelle and Eupen to Spa, and insur- 
gent troops were already marching on the town; 
while the route to the front was blocked by mutinous 
troops on the lines of communication. 

"His Majesty, yielding to these renewed urgent 
demands of the leading responsible military and 
competent political advisers, gave orders for the 
journey to the Dutch frontier to start at 5 a. m. 
on November 10." — 

All these facts seem to me to prove that His 
Majesty did not resolve, of his own accord, to go 
to Holland. On the contrary, he protested against 
the idea to the very last. But all his advisers, with 
the Higher Command at the head, employed the 
most forcible means to wrest this decision from him. 
The leading persons of his suite seem also to have 
gone over to the other side in the course of the 
afternoon and to have exerted themselves to ob- 
tain an early departure of His Majesty. 

Only in this way can it be explained that, in Viel- 
salm, a bare hour by motor-car from Spa, we did not 
get news of this decision in time for us to intervene 
and to induce the Kaiser to join our Army Group. — 
True, the situation at the front was very critical, 
and our presence in the Vielsalm headquarters 
extremely necessary. Nevertheless, it was a mis- 



SCENES AT SPA 323 

take for Schulenburg and me not to have remained 
in Spa or to have taken the Kaiser along with us 
when we left. We relied upon the promise of the 
Kaiser and upon those around him, who knew our 
views and attitude, to give us a call immediately 
any change occurred in the Kaiser's resolve. 

Considering in retrospect the abdication of the 
Kaiser, it seems to me that there was only one 
suitable moment for such an act. That moment 
was at the end of September, when Kaiser and peo- 
ple were startled by the military collapse and by 
the demand of the Higher Command for an im- 
mediate armistice proposal. The revelation of the 
bald truth was so crushing that the people would 
have understood the Kaiser's taking upon himself 
the responsibility and sacrificing himself. Such an 
abdication would have been voluntary and would 
not have weakened the monarchy. In October, 
one privilege after another was wrested from the 
crown. Even the Higher Command, in the middle 
of October, agreed to the supreme command in 
wartime being torn from the Kaiser — from the Chief 
War Lord. Ultimately came the demand for abdi- 
cation, and it grew louder and louder as the hostile 
propagandists acted more and more in concert. 
If it had been accorded in response to this pressure, 
the crown would have been surrendered to the ab- 
solute control of Parliament and of the mob, and the 
end would have been just the same. 



324 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

Or does any one still believe that the dynasties 
would not have been overturned, if the Kaiser had 
abdicated in the days of November or in the fore- 
noon of November 9? The revolution was not di- 
rected against the person of the Kaiser but against 
monarchy. 

For months the ground had been undermined, 
and the favorable moment was being awaited. 
This moment had arrived when the people's confi- 
dence in Hindenburg and Ludendorff received such 
a severe blow by the recognition that the war was 
lost. The people were worn out; the masses were 
worn out and ready for the revolution; the middle- 
classes were worn out and apathetically let things 
slide. The will to war and to resistance was para- 
lyzed; and people yielded to the delusion that they 
would obtain a better peace by removing the Kaiser. 

The revolution had an astoundingly easy game to 
play. A few hours sufficed to sweep away the heredi- 
tary Princes and their governments. Without fight- 
ing and without bloodshed, the revolution was 
accomplished — a proof of how thoroughly it was 
prepared, partly by the moving and swaying forces 
of our unfortunate destiny and partly by the sys- 
tematic work and influence of the revolutionaries. 

The Kaiser recognized that the abdication de- 
manded from him would be the commencement of 
chaos. He recognized that, for the difficult times 
ahead of us, one thing especially was essential: the 



SCENES AT SPA 325 

one thing needful was the maintenance of authority 
and of the fighting capacity of the army so that it 
might resist any attempt to dictate peace. Was he 
not right? The German people had received the 
most extensive democratic rights. The old authority 
could not be dispensed with in the hour of greatest 
peril. The Higher Command were forced to sign the 
ignominious armistice, not because we were defense- 
less, but because the field army could not continue 
the campaign with the revolution in its rear. 

The entire blame for their misfortune our people 
have heaped upon their old Kaiser. As his son, 
but also as one who was never his blind admirer, I 
must demand justice in any verdict pronounced 
upon my father. For three years he has been over- 
whelmed with abuse by the parties of the present 
Government who still impute every failure to the 
old regime and especially to the Kaiser, and by the 
heroes of the extreme left as well as those of the 
right. Like everybody else, my father was, after 
all, only human, and he too was worn out. Did 
not stronger men also experience their hours of 
weakness in the war? 

To what trials was not this sensitive and most 
pacific of princes exposed in the war? The last 
year of the war brought disappointment after disap- 
pointment. In its evil closing months, adverse in- 
telligence was followed by evil tidings and evil 
tidings by bad news; and, in the closing days and 



326 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

hours everything collapsed. He had resolved to 
tread the path of duty, and in that path to fall 
fighting. He relied upon the Higher Command, 
who, till the 6th of November, took his part with 
the whole weight of their authority. 

In the decisive hour, when the nation, the home 
army and the navy deserted him, that man also 
failed him who for him and for the nation was the 
greatest authority and to whom he had subordinated 
himself. 

Is it any wonder that my father trusted this man, 
this responsible adviser, more than he did me or 
my chef? Is it any wonder that, in the enormous 
excitement and tension which had seized him, he, 
after prolonged opposition, eventually yielded be- 
cause his great field-marshal strove for it with all 
the means at his disposal? Is it not natural that 
he should have shunned a bloody struggle against 
two fronts, a struggle withal which, in the judg- 
ment of the field-marshal general, the German 
army was no longer morally capable of conducting ? 
What enormous difficulties lay in the fact that the 
enemy Alliance was prepared to negotiate only with 
a so-called popular Government ! Without a doubt, 
our enemies, in the event of a conflict, would have 
made the surrender of the Kaiser a preliminary 
condition for the continuance of the armistice and 
peace negotiations. Was my father to place army 
and country in such a terrible dilemma ? And so he 



SCENES AT SPA 327 

acquiesced in his fate, rather than involve his brave 
and severely suffering people and army in civil war 
on his account. It was but logical that he should 
go abroad after he had given up the struggle with 
the revolution. 

I demand for the Kaiser humaneness in delibera- 
tion and righteousness in judgment; and yet I fear 
I shall not convince his adversaries — those adver- 
saries who cast stones at him because he went to 
Holland and who would have stoned him just the 
same, if, after abdicating, he had marched back 
home. But I hope to meet with understanding for 
my father among those nationally disposed Ger- 
mans who have the honest courage to look back 
and to beat their own breasts: "He that is without 
sin!" 



CHAPTER VIII 

EXILED TO HOLLAND 

May, 1921. 

In the early morning of November 10, I delib- 
erated with my chief of staff, Count Schulenburg, 
about the situation created by the departure of the 
Kaiser and the possibilities left open to me. My 
own inclination was still towards resistance. 

Combat the revolution then? But only Hinden- 
burg, the man into whose hands the Kaiser com- 
mitted the supreme command over the troops at 
the front and the troops at home and to whom I, 
myself, am subordinate as soldier and as leader of 
my Army Group, only this one man has the right 
to summon us to such a combat. 

And while we are still talking of him and of the 
decisions which he may perhaps be making, there 
comes the report from Spa that he has placed him- 
self at the disposal of the new Government ! 

Therewith, every thought of fighting is blasted 
in its roots — any enterprise against the new rulers 
is doomed to futility. With Hindenburg and the 
watchword of order and peace, much might have 
been saved; in opposing him there was only more 
to be lost, namely, German blood, and the prospect 

of an armistice and of peace. 

328 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 329 

Hence, my every temptation to regain my heredi- 
tary power by force of arms must be repudiated; 
and all that can persist is my desire in any case to 
do my duty as a soldier who has sworn fealty to his 
Kaiser and owes obedience to the representative 
appointed by that Kaiser. Accordingly, I will re- 
tain the command in my hands and will safely lead 
back home, in order and discipline, the troops in- 
trusted to me. Count von der Schulenburg indorses 
this resolve with his advice; and like views are ex- 
pressed by my army leaders von Einem, von Hutier, 
von Eberhardt, and von Boehn, some of whom pre- 
sent themselves among the staff of the Army Group 
in the course of the morning while the others are 
communicated with by telephone. Not one of them 
but is deeply affected by these unhappy decrees; 
not one of them who does not regard the events of 
Berlin and Spa with bewilderment. The same 
question again and again: "And Hindenburg?" 
And again and again the one answer: "General 
Groner *' 

After a long discussion of the pros and cons, I 
left Vielsalm in the afternoon. Schulenburg advises 
me urgently to proceed nearer to the troops at the 
front during the negotiations with Berlin, and to 
await the decisions of the Government in a spot 
more remote from the demoralization that was 
likely to find more ready expression behind the lines. 
On the other hand, it is necessary to select a place 



330 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

accessible by telephone. Therefore, in the end, it 
is agreed that I shall, for the present, proceed to 
the headquarters of the Third Army. 

That drive I shall never forget. My orderly of- 
ficer, Zobeltitz and the courier officer of the Army 
Group, Captain Anker, accompany me; while my 
two adjutants, Miildner and Miiller, remain behind 
to conduct the further negotiations with the Gov- 
ernment. 

In one place we passed through, my car was sur- 
rounded by hundreds of young soldiers, who greeted 
me with shouts and questions. It is a depot of re- 
cruits of the guards; none of the lads will believe 
in the reports of the revolution, and they beg me 
to march home with them. They are prepared to 
batter everything to pieces! When they hear that 
Hindenburg also has placed himself at the disposal 
of the new Government, they become quite silent. 
That seems beyond their comprehension. I press 
many hands; I hear behind me the shouts of the 
young voices: "Auf Wiedersehen!" — Dear, trusty 
German lads — now doubtless German men ! 

We toil along incredible country roads and forest 
tracks; and, about nine o'clock, we reach our goal. 
But no staff is to be seen anywhere ! Accidentally, 
a veterinary surgeon turns up in the dark and in- 
forms us that no staff has ever been located here. 
The name of the headquarters of the Third Army 
occurring twice, they have been incorrectly indi- 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 331 

cated on my map. But he will show us the way 
to the next place, where von Schmettow's staff was 
located yesterday. 

Our route traverses a vast and pitch-dark forest. 
In an hour's time we arrive at a house where every 
one has already retired to rest. After much shout- 
ing and sounding of our motor-horns an officer at 
length appears and explains that this is a school for 
ensigns; von Schmettow's group has already left. 
The young man is exceedingly kind, as though he 
must apologize for Schmettow's having gone. He 
begs me to stay the night; he does not know where 
the Third Army Staff is located, but presumes 
Einem to have taken up his quarters in the neigh- 
borhood of the little town of Laroche. 

We proceed, therefore, on our night journey. 
Eventually we find Laroche. It is a railway junc- 
tion. It is a terrible chaos through which we drive: 
bawling, undisciplined men going on leave, shouts 
and screams; and storming of the trains. At the 
commandant's, we learn that the Third Army Staff 
is lodged in a house quite close by. 

Off we start again ! On a deeply rutted road we 
have to pass under a narrow railway arch. Here an 
Austrian howitzer battery has jammed itself into 
some German munition vans in a hopeless entangle- 
ment. It is pitch dark to boot. The small lights 
flicker; the men shout and curse. Our car sinks 
deeper and deeper into the mud; and a fine, cold 



332 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

drizzle pours down. And thus we sit there and wait 
in that chaos for two whole hours. The yelling and 
bawling at the railway station reverberates over our 
heads; groups of muddy shirkers and soldiers from 
the lines of communication drift mistrustfully past, 
casting greedy, sidelong looks at us as they go by. 
Two such hours, after that flood of terrible events 
and with one's heart full of pain and bitterness. It 
is like a picture of the ghastly end of our four and a 
half years of heroic struggle: confusion, insanity, 
crime. 

I would not wish my worst enemy the burning 
torture of those hours. 

It was past midnight when we eventually reached 
the army headquarters, where we were welcomed 
with cordial friendship by His Excellency von Einem 
and his chief of staff, Lieutenant-Colonel von 
Klewitz. They had been expecting us since late 
in the afternoon, and had begun to fear some mis- 
fortune might have overtaken us and they would 
not see us again. 

We soon retire to bed; but again I find it scarcely 
possible to sleep. 

The eleventh is a cold, sombre day. At the 
Third Army Headquarters not a trace of the revo- 
lution is observable. From the chief of staff down 
to the lowest orderly, everything is irreproachable; 
and it is a pleasure to see the smartness and alacrity 
of the men. Were it not that all the unspeakably 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 333 

bitter experiences of the last few days are burned 
indelibly into my brain, I could, at the sight of this 
perfect order, imagine myself awaking from a hor- 
rible dream. Klewitz told me, by the way, that a 
soldiers' council had been formed among his tele- 
phone staff; but he had soon put an end to it, and 
the men came to him afterwards to apologize. 

In the course of the forenoon, the leader of the 
First Guards, General Eduard von Jena and his gen- 
eral staff officer. Captain von Steuben, reported to 
me. They are both fine, well-tried men. We were 
much affected; and when they took leave of me, 
tears were in their eyes. 

In the afternoon I telephone to my adjutants at 
Vielsalm. They report that, in regard to the nego- 
tiations with the Government, they are again com- 
municating with Berlin, but no decisions have been 
come to yet. One thing I request, namely, that no 
sort of conclusive settlement shall be made, that the 
final decision be left to me. 

Hence, wait on ! Wait ? Wait for what miracle ? 
Is not, in all that I already know, all that is barely 
concealed under the form of discussions and negotia- 
tions, the **No" of the gentlemen in Berlin clearly 
audible? And, indeed, if they are to retain the 
power they have usurped, can they act otherwise? 
And if I wish our poor and oft-tried country to have 
peace, can I repudiate their "No"? 

One unforgetable impression of that day I must 



334 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

record here: It is evening. Sunk in agonizing 
thought, I am walking alone in the park of the cha- 
teau. I have taken refuge in this solitude and seclu- 
sion in order to look in the face the finalities which 
are about to be consummated. 

And I reason thus. When that "No," which is 
surely coming, has robbed you of your place beside 
your comrades, and has reft from you your re- 
sponsibilities and duties as an active soldier — ^what 
then? Are you then to take one of the trains at 
Liege or Herbesthal and travel to Berlin in order not 
to become the nucleus of disturbances by remaining 
with the troops ? Will you live there as an idle gen- 
tleman passively watching them — in the wild frenzy 
and raving delirium of their jaded, goaded and mis- 
guided brains — ^violate all that tradition had made 
so sacred to you and to them? Or would you like 
to be there as the person on whom all their quarrels 
turned ? 

"No!" But a way opens out at the moment 
when you are forced by their "No" to give up your 
desire to return home with the troops, at the moment 
when you are deposed by the new rulers and dis- 
charged from the service. That way is the way 
across the frontier. 

Over there, away from all fermenting conflicts, 
you might wait a few weeks till the worst of the 
storm is over and reason and discernment have helped 
to restore order. Then, at the latest, on the con- 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 335 

elusion of peace, you could return to your wife and 
children and to the fresh labors which await you 
and every other German. 

I think of my father, whom, in this way, I should 
see again 

And the whole bitterness of this separation and 
this exile comes over me. 

Early dusk veils the autumn trees; sleet is falling, 
and a penetrating chill arises from the wet, moulder- 
ing leaves and the soddened earth. 

Suddenly, along the road outside, a company 
marches by. The men are singing our fine old 
soldiers' song, "Nach der Heimat mocht' ich wie- 
der " 

Singing! Marching! "Good God," I think to 
myself. I struggle with my feelings as best I can; 
but they are too strong for me, I cannot resist them. 

Still they sing — softer now and more distant 

I kept up until then. But that — in the darkness 
and solitude in which no one could see — that over- 
came me. 

Late in the evening arrived the declaration of the 
Government that, having heard the advice of War 
Minister General Scheuch, they must refuse to 
allow me to remain any longer in the Higher Com- 
mand of the Army Group. The new commander- 
in-chief had no further use for me. And so nothing 
was left but to write my farewell letter. It ran as 
follows: 



336 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

Headquarters of the Crown Prince Army Group 

"German Crown Prince," November 11, 1918. 
Dear Field-Marshal General, 

In these days — the most grievous of my father's 
life and of mine — I must beg to take leave of Your 
Excellency in this way. With deep emotion, I have 
been forced to the decision to avail myself of the 
sanction accorded by Your Excellency to my relin- 
quishing my post of commander-in-chief, and shall, 
for the present, take up residence abroad. It is 
only after a severe inward struggle that I have been 
able to reconcile myself to this step; for it tears 
every fibre of my heart not to be able to lead back 
home my Army Group and my brave troops to whom 
the Fatherland owes such an infinite debt. 

I consider it important, however, once again to 
give Your Excellency, at this hour, a brief sketch of 
my attitude; and I beg Your Excellency to make 
whatever use of my words may seem at all fitting to 
you. 

Contrary to many unjust opinions which have en- 
deavored to represent me as having always been a 
war-inciter and reactionary, I have, from the outset, 
advocated the view that this war was, for us, a war 
of defense; and, in the years 1916, 1917 and 1918, I 
often emphasized, both by word of mouth and in 
writing, the opinion that Germany ought to seek to 
end the war and that she should be glad if she could 
maintain her status quo against the entire world. 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 337 

So far as home politics are concerned, I have been 
the last to oppose a liberal development of our con- 
stitution. This conception I communicated in writ- 
ing to the Imperial Chancellor, Prince Max of Baden, 
only a few days ago. Nevertheless, when the vio- 
lence of events swept my father from the throne, I 
was not merely not heard, but, as Crown Prince and 
heir-apparent, simply ignored. 

I therefore request Your Excellency to take notice 
that I enter a formal protest against this violation 
of my person, my rights and my claims. 

In spite of these facts, I held to my view that, 
considering the severe shocks which the army was 
bound to sustain through the loss of its Kaiser and 
Chief War Lord as well as through the ignominious 
terms of the armistice, I ought to remain at my post 
in order to spare it the fresh disappointment of see- 
ing the Crown Prince also discharged from his posi- 
tion as military commander-in-chief. In this, too, 
I was led by the idea that, even though my own 
person might be exposed to the most painful conse- 
quences and conflicts, the holding together of my 
Army Group would avert further disaster, from our 
Fatherland, whom we all serve. These consequences 
to myself I should have endured in the conviction 
that I was doing my country a service. But the 
attitude of the present Government had also neces- 
sarily to be taken into account in deciding whether 
I was to continue in my military command. From 



338 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

that Government I have received notice that no 
further military activity on my part is looked for, 
although I should have been prepared to accept 
any employment. I believe, therefore, that I have 
remained at my post as long as my honor as officer 
and soldier required of me. 

Your Excellency will, at the same time, take 
notice that copies of this letter have been despatched 
to the Minister of the Royal Household, the Prussian 
State Ministry, the Vice-president of the House of 
Deputies, the President of the House of Lords, the 
Chef du Cabinet militaire, the Chef du Cabinet civil 
and a few of the military leaders with whom I am 
more intimately acquainted. 

I bid Your Excellency farewell with the ardent 
wish that our beloved Fatherland may find the way 
out of these severe storms to internal recovery and 
to a new and better future. In conclusion, I am, 
Yours, 

(Signed) WILHELM, 
Crown Prince of the German 
Empire and of Prussia. 
To His Excellency, Field-Marshal General 

von Hindenburg, Chief of the General Staff 

of the Field Army. General Headquarters. 

Soon after these incidents, I felt the desire to have 
a short account prepared of all that had taken place, 
including more especially the progress of the nego- 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 339 

tiations between my Army Group in Vielsalm and 
the Government in Berlin during my stay at Third 
Army Headquarters. As a supplement to the de- 
scription given by me, I insert here the account 
drawn up and signed by my chief of staff, Major- 
General Count von der Schulenburg and my two 
acting adjutants Miiller and Miildner: — 

Account of the Events of the 10th and 11th of 
November, 1918. 

On November 10, 1918, the chief of the General 
Staff of the Army Group under the German Crown 
Prince, Major-General Count Schulenburg urgently 
advised His Imperial Highness, the Crown Prince, 
to remain at the head of the Army Group. The 
Commanders-in-Chief v. Einem, von Boehn, v. 
Eberhardt and von Hutier, some of whom appeared 
personally in the headquarters of the Army Group, 
indorsed this view, each expressing his opinion in- 
dependently to the Crown Prince. On November 
10 the Crown Prince betook himself to the front, 
viz., to Third Army Headquarters, in order not to 
come prematurely into contact with various signs of 
demoralization. 

In Vielsalm, the headquarters of the Army Group, 
a conference was held, on November 11, with His 
Excellency von Hintze, in which Count Schulenburg 
and the two personal adjutants. Major von Miiller 



340 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

and Major von Miildner, took part. Count Schu- 
lenburg advocated the Crown Prince's remaining 
at the head of his Army Group. He pointed out 
that the field-marshal and Groner were also of this 
opinion. In general, the two personal adjutants 
agreed with this view, but they called attention to 
the fact that, before his departure for Holland, the 
Kaiser had declared that, under no circumstances, 
must civil war be inflamed in Germany. Willingly 
or unwillingly, however, now that the Kaiser had 
crossed into Dutch territory, the Crown Prince, as 
things stood, would, in all probability, become the 
cause of such civil war. 

Even if this factor were excluded, it might be 
assimied with certainty that the new Government 
would bring about, with all convenient speed, the 
termination of so commanding a military part as 
that held by the Crown Prince. At the latest, this 
would have to take place at the Rhine; and then 
there would no longer be left to the Crown Prince 
any decision as to his further actions. He would 
presumably be forced to accept any conditions im- 
posed upon him and would not even have any choice 
as to his future domicile. If he chose it in Germany 
he would always remain the nucleus of movements 
that might lead to incalculable consequences. His 
Excellency von Hintze declared that the question 
of whether the Prince was to remain or depart was 
one to be decided by the responsible military au- 
thorities. It was agreed to inquire of the Govern- 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 341 

ment, and His Excellency von Hintze offered to 
transmit the question. He requested the Imperial 
Chancellor to come to the telephone. The chan- 
cellor was at a sitting and could not be spoken to. 
His place was taken by Herr von Prittwitz and 
Herr Baacke. While His Excellency von Hintze 
was talking with these gentlemen, Count Schulen- 
burg dictated to Major von Miildner the inquiry 
put to the Government by the Crown Prince: — 
"The Crown Prince has a fervent desire to remain 
at the head of his Army Group and, in these serious 
times, to do his duty like every other soldier. He 
will lead his troops back home in strict order and 
discipline, and he engages to undertake nothing 
against the Government in these times. What is 
the attitude of the Government in this matter?" 
His Excellency von Hintze telephoned this inquiry 
to Herr Baacke, who wrote it down and verified it. 
During these negotiations, the Crown Prince called 
for Count Schulenburg and His Excellency von 
Hintze and demanded that no final arrangements 
should be made and that, in any case, he reserved 
to himself the decision. 

Late in the evening. Major von Miildner received 
a telephone message to the effect that, after having 
consulted the war minister, Scheuch, the Govern- 
ment must answer the inquiry of the Crown Prince 
in the negative, and that they had no intention of 
leaving the Crown Prince in command. 

Thereupon, and with the consent of Field-Marshal 



342 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

von Hindenburg, the Crown Prince laid down the 
command and, after a severe internal struggle, re- 
solved in favor of the journey to Holland, saying to 
himself that, after the decision already formed, his 
remaining would not bring about any change in the 
situation but would only aggravate and confuse it, 
so that he was convinced he ought to make this 
sacrifice for the Fatherland. 

The departure took place in the forenoon of No- 
vember 12. 
Berlin, April 4, 1919. 
(Signed) 

VON MULLER, 

Major. 
MtlLDNER VON MULNHEIM, 

Major. 
COUNT VON DER SCHULENBURG, 
Major-General. 

The next night is sleepless, restless. It is like one 
long horror to a tortured heart which must now 
tear itself away by the roots from its affections, hor- 
ror against the brain which vainly racks itself for a 
better solution of the problems. 

In the end, only one thing stands clear, namely, 
that not through me or on my account must be shed 
further blood at home, that I dare not be a hindrance 
to any possible restoration of internal tranquillity or 
to the finding of a peace which the Fatherland can 
bear. 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 343 

We intend to travel in the early morning — to 
travel across the frontier into Holland. Two cars 
with only the most absolutely indispensable luggage. 
We have talked about it for days; and I have 
thought of scarcely anything else at night; yet now 
that it faces me in all its reality, I can hardly realize 
it. 

Quite quietly and with but few words, I should 
like to leave the Third Army Headquarters. What 
can be said has been said. And every military duty 
has been fulfilled up to the last moment. The com- 
mand of the Army Group hitherto intrusted to me 
passed to Lieutenant-General von Einem with the 
advent of the armistice. Departure — stem com- 
pulsion ordains it. Why make the heart still 
heavier ? 

But, when I enter the hall, the whole Head- 
quarters Staff is there in full regimentals and with 
their helmets on — all of them, even the clerks and 
orderlies. In front of them, leaning upon his sword, 
stands the fine old colonel-general, von Einem; next 
to him is his chief of staff, my good Klewitz — that 
admirable soldier, never daunted though things were 
often so black! Only that, in his sturdy features, 
there is something I have never seen there before. 

Einem speaks — encouraging, deeply felt words, be- 
lief in a new future! Three cheers for the com- 
mander-in-chief of the Army Group fill the hall 
and re-echo above my head. 



344 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

Commander-in-chief of the Army Group? Am 
I that still? Perhaps at this moment the field- 
marshal general holds my letter of resignation in 
his hands. 

I cannot speak, cannot answer. I press the hands 
of the old and well-tried officers; and I see tears on 
the cheeks of the men. 

We must be off. 

On the way, we have to halt with the staff of the 
First Army, which has its quarters in the picturesque 
Rochefort Chateau in the Ardennes, not far from 
Namur. There, at General von Eberhardt's — the 
general was for a long time a trusty leader in my 
Army Group — I have to meet my chief of staff. 
Thus, I have another bitter farewell to take from 
him also, from the man who, during the severest 
period of the war, stood nearest to me as my military 
assistant and adviser, and to whom, for all that he 
gave me as a soldier and a man, I am so deeply 
indebted. 

We are all deeply moved as I now sign the last 
army order to my troops. 

"To my Armies! 
"His Majesty the Kaiser having laid down the 
supreme command and the armistice being con- 
cluded, I am compelled by circumstances to retire 
from the leadership of my Army Group. As ever 
heretofore, so also to-day I can only thank my brave 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 345 

armies and each man in them from the bottom of 
my heart for the heroic courage, self-sacrifice and 
resignation with which, in prosperity and in adver- 
sity, they have faced every danger and endured 
every privation for the Fatherland. 

The Army Group has not been defeated by force 
of arms ! Hunger and bitter distress have conquered 
us! Proudly and with heads erect, my Army 
Group can leave the soil of France which the best 
German blood had won. Their escutcheon is un- 
blemished, their honor untainted. Let every one 
see to it that they remain so, both now and later 
in the homeland. 

Four long years I was permitted to be with my 
armies in victory and in distress; four long years 
my whole heart was given up to my troops. Deeply 
moved, I part from them to-day, and I bow my 
head before the splendor of their mighty deeds 
which history will some day write in words of flame 
for later generations. 

Be true to your leaders as you have been heretofore, 
till the command comes which shall set you free 
for wife and child, for hearth and for home. God 
be with you and with our German Fatherland ! 

"WILHELM, 
"The Commander-in-Chief, 
"Crown Prince of the German Empire 
and of Prussia." 



346 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

And now the moment of separation has come here 
too. I can scarcely tear myself away. 

But it must be — my people urge me. Miildner 
has been holding a cap ready for me for some time 
— a gray infantry cap; he thinks, I suppose, that I 
shall not notice what it is in this torment and dis- 
traction; he wishes to disguise me with it, in his 
affectionate care imagining that I shall be safer and 
less easily recognized in that unaccustomed color. 

"No, I want my Hussar cap for this last journey, 
too ! No one will do me any harm !" 

And now they pretend to be unable to find it. 
But I wait; and, at last, the black one with the 
death's-head turns up and I don it once again. 

I look into their faithful eyes; we can only nod; 
words stick in the throat. Schulenburg jerks out: 
"If you see my lord and Kaiser over there in Hol- 
land " then he falters, too. 

The motor whirs; and we start. 

We drive through the back areas of two disin- 
tegrating armies, districts which are disengaging 
themselves in mad haste from the firmly established 
order of a four years' campaign. 

Our cars are gray; they carry my three trusty 
companions and myself to the bitter end. In the 
front car are Miiller and Miildner, I following them 
in the other car with the sick Zobeltitz. 

There are soldiers everywhere, saluting and shout- 
ing. No, I was right; no one will interfere with me. 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 347 

I return their salutes; and I can't help thinking, 
again and again: **If you lads only knew how I 
feel just now." 

Our route goes via Andenne to Tongem. Belgian 
soil; everywhere the Belgian flags are flying in the 
towns, and the population is celebrating. 

Moreover, the look of our own people changes as 
we get farther and farther from the front. Crowds 
of men who once were soldiers now drift along with- 
out discipline. Shouts that are no longer friendly 
greet our ears. There is the incessant repetition of 
the silly catchwords of those days; swaggering and 
bragging, each boaster tries to outdo the other in 
his display of rebelliousness, shouting: ** Knives out !" 
"Gofor'im!" "Blood up!" 

But we are stopped nowhere. 

At one spot we pass a cattle transport driven by 
"Landsturm" men. One old chap, passing close to 
the car and waving a red flag above his oxen, curses 
me roundly; the officers, he says, are to blame for it 
all; they've kept hey-day — he is half famished! — 
That is really too much for me, and I give the miser- 
able man such a dressing-down that, trembling and 
white as a sheet, he makes salute after salute. 
Wretched rabble that have never faced the enemy 
and are now playing at revolution ! 

Just before Vroenhoven we see the last German 
troops; **Landsturm," they are making off toward 
home. 



348 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

Near Vroenhoven we halt in the Dutch barbed 
wire. 

My heart thumps loudly as I jump out of the car. 
I am thoroughly conscious that the few paces before 
me are decisive. As though all crowded together in 
one moment, the pitiless and tormenting scenes of 
the last few days stand once again before me: Spa; 
the Kaiser; the field-marshal; Groner's face; my 
Schulenburg, adjuring and undauntedly opposing the 
others; my father's letter; and the decision from 
Berlin which gives me my discharge and cuts the 
ground from under my feet. 

No, it must be; it must be; there is no other way. 

Suddenly there come into my mind the words 
that General von Falkenhayn used to call out to 
me when, as a boy, I had to take some difficult ob- 
stacle with my horse: "Fling your heart across first; 
the rest will follow." 

Then I take the few steps in front of me. 

Veiled, blurred and uncertain is my impression of 
what followed next. People surround me, comrades 
(Miiller deadly earnest; and Miildner, self-possessed, 
soldierly, practical and clear as ever) and stran- 
gers. 

There is a young, perfectly correct Dutch officer, 
who at first is so surprised that he cannot grasp the 
situation and does not know what to do with us. 
But he sees that we cannot remain here; conse- 
quently, we are taken past a presenting guard into a 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 349 

small inn, where amiable and silent attendants serve 
us with hot coffee. 

Meantime Maastricht is rung up. The young offi- 
cer returns. He is, himself, oppressed by the duty 
incumbent upon him: he must request the surrender 
of our weapons. Then follows a moment of intense 
bitterness, which is rendered endurable only by the 
tact of the petitioner. 

Baron von Hiinefeld and Baron Grote come over 
from Maastricht. Soon Colonel Schroder of the 
military police arrives with his adjutant. Our fur- 
ther destiny lies in his hands. He acts energeti- 
cally. Telephones ring and telegrams are des- 
patched. Reports, inquiries, regulations to be ob- 
served. Thus our destiny begins to shape itself. 

In any case, we are first to proceed to the prefec- 
ture in Maastricht and to await the Government's 
decision at the residence of the governor of the 
Province of Limburg. 

Again we drive off. Everything is warlike here 
also. The streets of the town are blocked with 
guards, wires and chevaux-de-frise. The news of 
our arrival, too, has spread with incredible celerity; 
and the people regard us with sinister looks. "The 
Boches are here ! The Crown Prince ! " 

It is nearly one o'clock when we enter the prefec- 
ture. 

On the square below is a raging, yelling crowd, 
consisting mostly of Belgians. 



350 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

Baron van Hoevel tot Westerflier receives us with 
a thoroughly humane and magnanimous comprehen- 
sion of our position, and endeavors in every way to 
alleviate our melancholy situation. He, too, de- 
clares that our arrival has come as a complete sur- 
prise to the Dutch Government and that further de- 
cisions must be awaited. He then leaves us alone in 
the cold splendor of the large hall of the prefecture. 

However tactfully it may be done, however skil- 
fully the veil may be drawn over the reality, one feels 
oneself to be, after all, a prisoner, to be no longer a 
free man, master of one's own decisions, to be a 
person who may be compelled to stay or forced to 
go. To all the other torments is now added the 
feeling that one wears invisible shackles. 

We sit doing nothing round the table on highly 
ceremonious chairs; or we range restlessly round the 
room, or stare silently out of the tall window. 

What is going to happen now? 

The hands of the timepiece seem scarcely to move; 
sometimes I think they have stopped altogether. 

And, to make things worse, good Zobeltitz, poor 
fellow, lies doubled up with pain on the plush-cov- 
ered bench. 

Occasionally one of us talks — rather to himself 
than to the rest. It is always the same thing, one 
of those thoughts that go buzzing through our heads 
and which we cannot properly grasp; and no one 
makes any answer. 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 351 

Now and then there is a knock at the door. 
Every one is filled with expectation. But it is noth- 
ing; only the governor sending to inquire after our 
wishes or the commandant of police informing us 
that he is still waiting for instructions. 

And again we are alone, our thoughts busy with 
the past from which we are physically separated, or 
turned towards the future into which we cannot see. 
Broodingly we ask ourselves: "What is happening 
behind us while we wait here like caged animals? 
What in the field, among the men who have been 
our comrades for four and a half years? What in 
the homeland? What at home among our wives 
and children ? 

Zobel has got up with difRculty and is creeping 
about the room. Now and again his honest, dark 
eyes catch mine. In spite of all the tortures of his 
stomach, which ought to have been under the sur- 
geon's knife long ago, he looks at me as though he 
would fain do something for me. Then he stops 
in a comer before the white bust of William of 
Orange, who gazes down comfortably and in dignity 
from his pedestal. Zobeltitz nods to him and says 
philosophically: "Aye, aye, my dear Van Houten, 
you never dreamed it would come to this, did you?" 

How much bitterness may not be mitigated by 
such a sudden sally of humor in the midst of de- 
spair! The martyrdom of waiting is almost ren- 
dered easier. 



352 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

The Baron has dinner served for us. Notwith- 
standing all our protestations, a real dinner. It is 
all so well meant; but, in the mood which now holds 
us in its clutches, we can scarcely swallow a mouthful. 

At last, by midnight, things are settled. We are, 
for the present, to find shelter in Hillenraadt Castle 
belonging to Count Mettemich. 

Again we are in open cars, with the police officer 
beside us. The streets through which we pass are 
cordoned off by patrols of marees chaussees, in ac- 
cordance with the wise and proper orders of Colonel 
Schroder. 

A bitterly cold fog lies over the landscape and 
makes the night still more impenetrable. Only the 
searchlights bore white funnels in the dark into 
which we hasten. It is as though, at one moment, 
they threaten to swallow us up, and the next have 
hurried phantom-like away. 

Two hours pass thus. 

Then we stop before the Count's castle near Roer- 
mond. 

We remove our coats in the great hall which is 
faintly lighted by candles. Stiff with cold we are, 
wretched at heart and rootless on foreign soil. 

Suddenly, the lady of the house descends the 
stairs — ^young, blonde, dressed all in black, a chain 
of pearls round her slender neck. All feeling of 
strangerhood vanishes before those warm and sym- 
pathetic eyes. 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 353 

From that moment onward throughout the un- 
speakably difficult ten days which we spend in Hil- 
lenraadt Castle, this kind woman looks after us 
with the most delicate tact, and becomes to me a 
good friend with whom I can talk over many a tor- 
turing question. The Countess is a believing Cath- 
olic and suffers severely under the misfortune which 
has come upon our country; moreover, she is deeply 
anxious about her husband, who, during these days 
of revolution, is in Berlin. 

Thus pass ten days, during which, while bad news 
follows bad news from the field and from home, 
negotiations are carried on with the Dutch Govern- 
ment concerning our future. In the course of these 
proceedings, it appears that outward circumstances 
compel Holland to couple the question of my intern- 
ment with my arrival and my wish to sojourn tem- 
porarily on neutral soil. Only under guarantees to 
the outside world is it possible for the neutral State 
to afford him hospitality or to endeavor to oppose 
the demands already being made for my "extradi- 
tion." Thus, I have suddenly found myself in a 
position of constraint. In view of the conclusion 
of the armistice on November 11, the possibility of 
such a situation arising never occurred to any one 
in considering the pros and cons of my journey — 
neither to me, nor my chief of staff, nor the gentle- 
men about me, nor the state secretary of the For- 
eign Office, nor His Excellency von Hintze, nor the 



354 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

General Higher Command. We all cherished the 
assured conviction that I could claim exactly the 
same rights as all the gentlemen of the Imperial 
suite, none of whom had been interned or were to 
be interned, and whose movements were left to their 
own discretion. Despite the difficulties and tor- 
ments involved, these discussions and negotiations 
are conducted by the representatives of the Dutch 
Government in a spirit of genuine humaneness. In 
full accord with the character of the Dutch people, 
every one of the men with whom we came into con- 
tact over the matter proved to be just, impartial 
and ready to stand up for his own personal convic- 
tion. 

At length, we receive some sort of indication as 
to my future. Colonel Schroder brings me news 
that the Dutch Government have appointed the 
Isle of Wieringen for my residence. 

Wierigen ? The Isle of Wieringen ? 

No one in the house knows where the island may 
be. 

Wieringen ? 

I hear the name for the first time in my life; I 
can form no notion of it, attach no idea to it. 

And now, as I write these reminiscences, I have 
been living for nearly three years on this small spot 
of sea-girt earth. 

Even this last phase of the journey into exile is 
full of little hindrances, vexations and annoyances. 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 355 

Early in the morning we bid farewell to our kind 
Countess as the train leaves Roermond Station at 
seven o'clock. A Dutch captain is appointed as 
our companion. 

Towards one o'clock, we are in Amsterdam — 
many inquisitive people throng the station, and 
there is a cordon of soldiers — and by three o'clock 
we reach Enkhuizen, an out-of-the-way place on the 
shores of the Zuyder Zee. As we had learned on 
the way, a steam-yacht of the Administration of 
Hydraulic Engineering is to meet us here and take 
us across to the Isle of Wieringen. 

But, in the fog, the yacht has run herself on a 
sand-bank off Enkhuizen and begs to be excused. 
During my consequent enforced stay at Enkhuizen, 
the population gives utterance to its feelings in cries, 
yells, hoots, and curses. By an unmistakable ges- 
ture towards the neck followed by an upward move- 
ment of the hand, the crowd, with a remarkable 
expenditure of mimicry, makes it clear to me how 
thoroughly the caricature of my person produced 
and disseminated by Entente propaganda has fixed 
itself in their minds. In any case, all this does not 
exactly tend to enliven one's feelings. 

After a long palaver, it is eventually decided to 
go on board a little steam-tug and to search for our 
yacht. 

So off we go. The fog on the Zuyder Zee is so 
thick that we can scarcely see twenty yards ahead. 



356 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

and an icy wind is blowing from the open sea. We 
stand on the deck of the little pitching and rolling 
steamer and stare into the fog for hours together. 
It is a cheerless business. 

At last we find the yacht. But there is not much 
comfort to be gained from her. Her screw is broken. 
First, we have to tug her off. Then she is lashed 
alongside the tug; and we are then, it would seem, 
in a position to steer for Wieringen. 

Aye, if we only knew where Wieringen lay. In 
the fog and the deepening darkness and the heavy 
storm and the turbulent sea, our magnificent navi- 
gators spend hours in searching for the island. But 
the island cannot be found; it has vanished, as though 
devoured by the sea and the fog. In the end, some- 
where about ten o'clock at night, they give up the 
search and decide to drop anchor till the morning. 
But this again proves to be fool's wisdom, for the 
sea is so rough that the two ships are continually 
bumped against one another. A number of rivets 
have already been loosened, and, if things go on 
like this, there is every prospect of our being 
drowned — man and mouse. And so up comes the 
anchor again ! 

Next we try to reach the harbor of Medemblik 
on the mainland, and — ^bold seafarers being often 
blessed rather with good luck than with brains — ^we 
at last manage to get there towards midnight. 

Wieringen ? Just a foretaste which prevented our 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 357 

expectations from running too high; that was all 
that this day brought us. 

But next day the effort succeeded. The sea hav- 
ing quieted down, we go aboard in the morning and 
make the island about noon in calm, clear winter 
weather. 

Indelible is the impression of that moment in 
which I first set foot upon the firm ground of this 
little comer of earth. 

The harbor is again crowded with people. There 
are the quiet and distrustful natives of the place 
staring at this curious billeting; and there are re- 
porters from all parts of the world and deft-handed 
photographers. 

It makes you feel like some rare animal that has 
at last been successfully caught. I should like to 
say to each of these busybodies: "Ask nothing, 
and get out of the way with your quizzing camera. 
I want quiet; I want to collect my thoughts and to 
rearrange my ideas after all this disaster — ^and 
nothing more!" 

In a primeval vehicle— assuredly the best the 
island boasts — ^we proceed to the village of Ooster- 
land. The venerable jolting-car smells of oil and 
mief and ancient leather. Even still, if I close my 
eyes and recall that hour, I can smell that ineradi- 
cable odor. 

We are set down at the little parsonage, which 
is very much out of repair. Everything is bare and 
desolate. 



358 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

A few rickety old pieces of furniture — absolute 
cripples ! Chilliness and solitude ensconced like phan- 
toms between them. 

The decrepit chariot outside turns groaning and 
moaning on its axles and jogs off homeward through 
the fog. 

Home ! — ^The thought of it almost chokes me. 

Days and weeks ensue that are so cheerless and 
leaden as to be almost unbearable. 

Like a prisoner, like an outlaw, I move among 
this small group of people, who turn away their 
lowering, shy visages as they pass or, at most, look 
askance at me with inquisitive half-closed eyes. I 
am the bloodthirsty baby-killer; people are embit- 
tered against the Government for having imposed 
such a burden upon this honest island and for letting 
me roam about it untrammelled. 

The burgomaster, Peereboom, has his work cut 
out for him; it is a difficult task to calm these agi- 
tated souls. 

And absolutely heart-rending news dribbles in 
from home concerning the course of events! We 
have no German newspapers. Only from Dutch 
journals — which are out-of-date by the time they 
reach us — can we spell out the tenor of the London, 
Paris and Amsterdam telegrams; and their tenor is 
** blood and tumult," the palace shelled and pil- 
laged, domination by the sailors, Spartacist battles, 
a threat of invasion by the Entente. 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 359 

One would like to cry out for a little hope, for a 
little light to be granted to the land to which every 
fibre of one's heart is attached and for whose peace 
and security one would willingly make every sacri- 
fice! 

Sacrifice ? Yes, they ask one from me, of which I 
will speak here. 

On December 1, von Pannwitz, secretary to the 
German Legation at The Hague, arrives with a 
fresh demand sent by the new German Government. 
The secretary is an old member of my corps in my 
student days at Bonn. God knows, the task can 
scarcely have been an easy one for him, and he 
doubtless undertook it only because what he had to 
tell me was less painful to listen to from the lips of 
a friend than from those of a stranger. 

He is to obtain from me a formal renunciation of 
my personal claims. 

A renunciation! — Why? — What for? — The gen- 
tlemen in Berlin, who hold the power in their hands 
and who, according to their own assertions, represent 
the will of the majority of the German people, have 
not hitherto been so pedantic and punctilious in 
their dealings with the rights of the Hohenzollems. 
Did they not, on November 9, announce the abdica- 
tion of His Majesty and my own renunciation, with- 
out waiting for the Kaiser's decision or even advising 
me ? And did not the same lips which, a few weeks 
before, had sworn fealty to His Majesty, without a 



360 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

scruple proclaim the German republic? What can 
my renunciation signify to those gentlemen? It 
has not been their custom heretofore to trouble 
about such small matters ! 

But other considerations press for attention. 
What is the true foundation of the rights exercised 
by a ruler who regards himself as the chief servant of 
the State, or by the prospective heir to a throne who, 
according to traditional law, is some day to take 
over that service ? Is it merely his ancestry and his 
inherited and guaranteed claims? Or is it not 
rather only by gaining the confidence of the nation 
which intrusts itself voluntarily to the leadership of 
one who is carrying on the tradition that he earns 
afresh the real substance of those actual rights? 
Is not the one without the other void and empty? 
And, can I, without further consideration, believe 
that I have the confidence and attachment of the 
majority of Germans, after our collapse, in this hour 
of deepest distress and humiliation, when so many 
hundreds of thousands see before them a portrait 
of me which is nothing but a disfigurement, a vili- 
fication, a distortion of my true self? — ^No, that is 
impossible ! 

Shall I present to my German Fatherland the 
spectacle of one who persists in demanding his rights 
when they deny him the best elements in these 
rights — ^love and confidence? Shall I, by a rigid 
insistence upon "my bond," provide a war-cry for 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 361 

all those who stand for monarchy in the State, and 
that at a time when, according to my deepest con- 
victions, the Fatherland — ^whether as republic or 
as monarchy — demands from all of us internal sol- 
idarity against the rapacious desires of the "victors" 
around us and work, work, work ? — Once more. No ! 

And if, under the stress of circumstances and for 
the benefit of the whole, the individual renounces a 
prescriptive right, does he thereby relinquish any 
particle of that sublimer free right of obeying a pos- 
sible summons issued to him by the will of the 
majority? My renunciation, proceeding from my 
love of the Fatherland, cannot be regarded as blame- 
worthy. It is evidence of one thing only, that in 
the fateful hours, with the enemy at our gates and 
divided counsels at home, when the great need of 
the moment was to save the country from further 
dissensions, I obeyed the demands which were cal- 
culated to serve her interests. 

And so, I yielded to the somewhat belated wishes 
of the new Government; but I repeat that it was 
not for their sakes and not because I recognized 
any of the traditional rights of my position as 
in any way affected by the violent doings of the 
revolution; no, it was because, so far as in me lies, 
I desire, as much as any one of my compatriots, 
honestly to help in preventing conflagration and in 
healing and strengthening by devotion and self- 
abnegation our so severely tried Fatherland, till the 



362 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

hour shall come in which I, too, may take active 
part with my fellows in productive labor in my 
home country. 

September, 1921. 

I have perused again the pages describing my 
journey to Holland and the almost unbearable first 
weeks of my sojourn on the island here. Vividly 
present is the recollection of that painful past. And 
yet it is so distant — almost three years ! Those who 
then regarded me with deep-rooted distrust, with 
reserve and even with repulsion have long since be- 
come friends who admit me to their joys and sor- 
rows, small as well as great, — friends whose simple 
and straightforward fairness lightens my solitude by 
many a token of genuine good-will. 

It is true, too, that the tranquillity and seclusion 
of the island have doubtless tended to deepen and 
enrich my powers of discernment; and yet, all this 
and all that the Dutch people have given me in 
their hospitality could not make me forget my Ger- 
man homeland. My old love for her and my long- 
ing for the people who are my kindred are as strong 
in me as ever. 

The hour of fulfilment has, alas, not yet struck, 
and I cannot yet actively co-operate in the work of 
restoration; all I can do is to await that hour in 
self-control and patience, enduring meanwhile the 
hardships of exile and solitude without complaint. 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 363 

I have sketched in these pages the most important 
matters of my life up till now, and I have not wit- 
tingly suppressed any essentials. 

I have finished. 

But I would not say good-by to those Germans 
who have followed my course in this narrative with- 
out expressing to them the wishes that fill my heart 
for them, for us all, for our sacred Fatherland which 
gave us birth and which, whether it flourish or 
whether it fade is the source from which our life's 
blood issues. 

What, in our great depression and misery we 
most of all need, in order to regain our old position, 
is internal unity founded upon self-sacrificing love 
of the Fatherland, coupled with national conscious- 
ness and national dignity. 

Away with the acrimonious cries which tend to 
perpetuate internal strife and prevent the return of 
peace! It cannot be our aim continually to re- 
proach one another with having broken the pitcher. 
In some way we were all of us sinners; and what we 
need is a new vessel instead of the shards of the 
old one. 

Let every one who may be called to share in de- 
termining the destiny of the German people to-day 
feel the full weight of the responsibilities intrusted 
to him ! May that much-abused and often miscon- 
strued saying "Room for the competent!" at length 
be turned to deeds ! Let us have only the best men 



364 MEMOIRS OF THE CROWN PRINCE 

at the helm ! Let the most tested experts, the most 
capable, the stoutest come to the front! It is not 
a question of whether they come from the right or 
from the left, whether they have or have not a past, 
whether they are republicans or monarchists, em- 
ployers or workmen. Christians or Jews; all that 
should be asked is whether they are honest men in- 
spired with German feelings and prepared to work 
for the reconstruction of their country with all 
their might and all their combined vigor — united 
at home and strong towards the world without. 

Fettered by the chains which the impossible and 
criminal Treaty of Versailles has forced upon our 
powerlessness, Germany has lain prostrate and help- 
less for three years. She is helpless because she 
squanders her strength in internal feuds, because a 
large proportion of her people continue to listen to the 
"Pied-Piper" melodies of those rogues or madmen 
who sing them the alluring lay of universal brother- 
hood in the paradise of internationalism. How long 
is it to last, how long? Open your eyes and look 
around you; and you will see that this world by which 
you are encompassed is one homogeneous proof that 
nowhere is a hand held out to help you and that 
only he who helps himself finds recognition. Above 
all, be Germans, and take your stand firmly on the 
ground of practical politics in this so eminently prac- 
tical world, reserving your romanticism for better 
days in which it will be less fatal to the whole fabric. 



EXILED TO HOLLAND 365 

Believe me, a German people which buries its 
party quarrels, which liberates itself from the miser- 
able materialism of these recent years and which, 
united in its love for our impoverished and yet so 
gloriously beautiful Fatherland, struggles for freedom 
with an indomitable will, — such a German people 
can shake off its shackles and burst its manacles. 

But you must display sternness, and you must 
wrestle with that fervor which knows only the one 
ardent longing and cries: "I will not let thee go, 
except thou bless me." 

I do not summon to revenge or to arms or to vio- 
lence. I call upon the spirit of Germany; let that 
be strengthened; for the mind makes the deed and 
the destiny — and senseless is the tool without the 
master. — ^Possibly this saying is the key to that 
destiny through which we have been passing for a 
generation, and also to that which lies ahead and 
into which we may enter as victors over all our 
opponents if we do but bind together all the best 
of our energies into a potent whole. 



INDEX 



Abdul Hamid, Sultan, 47 ff. ; enter- 
tains German Princes, 48 ff.; his 
learning, 50; entertained by 
Crown Prince, 50 ff. 

Agadir, 113, 115 

Ailette, 261 

Aisne, 168, 261, 265, 270 

Alexandra, Empress of Russia, char- 
acter of, 66, 68 

Alexis Nicholaievitch, Tsarovitch, 
70 

Alsace-Lorraine question, uncer- 
tain German attitude, no; policy 
in, 132 ff. ; plan to relinquish, 224 

Americans, combat with, 250 ff. 

Amerongen, 127, 152 

Anastasia Michailovna, Dowager 
Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg, 
mother of Crown Princess, 61 

Anker, Captain, 330 

Anschiitz, 46 

Antwerp-Meuse line, 237, 239, 275 

Apremont, 206 

Ardennes, 238; Rochefort Chateau, 

344 

Argentinians, friendly to Germany, 
81 

Argonne, 203, 204, 206, 217, 249 
ff., 261 

Armament, German, 95 ff. 

Armies, peace strength of, 138 

Armistice, rumored, 268; events 
prior to, 285 ff. 

Artillery, German and French 
methods compared, 65 

Augusta Victoria, Kaiserin, moth- 
erly kindness and sympathy, 4 
ff., 58, 282 ff.; confidence of 
Crown Prince in, 4 ff., 282 ff.; 



visited in exile by Crown Prince, 
42; agitation over Wortley inci- 
dent, 99; illness, 107, 127, 184, 
209, 280; death, 281; life as pic- 
tured by Crown Prince, 281 ff. 

Austria-Hungary, German allies,- 
85 ; asked by Germany to arm, 95 ; 
ultimatum, 141 ; weakness of, 
224. See also Vienna 

Auxiliary Service Act, 1 82 

Avesnes, 250, 262 

Baacke, Herr, 341 

Balance of power, naval, 76 

Balkan defeats, 249 ff. 

Ballin, 161 ff. 

Bapaume, 37 

Bassenheim, Count, helps Crown 
Prince, 26 

Bauluy, 206 

Beauzee, 203 

Beck, Major, visits exiled Crown 
Prince, 107 

Behr, Adjutant and lord, 54 

Belgium, German position in, 238 

Bentinck, Count, 152 

Berg, von. His Excellency, 10, 151, 
252, 267 

Berge, von. Colonel, 293 

Berlin, childhood home, 3; Schloss- 
kapelle, 35; Crown Princess re- 
ceived in, 61; collapse of Kaiser 
in, 113; populace changed in 1917 
in, 243 ff.; despatches to Presi- 
dent Wilson, 263, 266; uprisings 
in. See Revolution 

Bethel, 265 

Bethmann Hollweg, Theobald von, 
hopes for neutrality of England, 



367 



368 



INDEX 



78, 86; naval plans, 79; handi- 
capped by Kaiser, 87; retired, 89; 
against armament, 96; govern- 
ment under, 109 flf. ; character and 
limitations, iii ff., 116, i6r, 180; 
lectures Crown Prince, 114; last 
peace conflict with Crown Prince, 
141 ff.; opinions of English atti- 
tude, 144 ff.; war attitude, 180 ff.; 
afraid of Reichstag, 225 

Betzold, 46 

Bismarck, Prince, kindness to the 
young Crown Prince, 7; birthday 
visit of Crown Prince and Kaiser 
to, 29 ff.; attitude towards Eng- 
land, 83 ff.; retirement, 85; might 
of, 8"/ ff. ; Buchholz's speech on, 
142; guarded German realm, 223 

Bock, von. Major, 276 

Boehn, von, Lieutenant-General, 
262 

Boer War, 84, 85 

Bolshevists, 319 

Bonn University, 44 ff., 54, 151 

Boris, Crown Prince of Bulgaria, 
223, 250, 262 

Borussia (Prussian) Corps, 45 

Bove Ridge, 220 

Boyhood of Crown Prince. See 
Education of Crown Prince 

Brandenburg, Prussian state, 64 

Brandis, von. Captain, 213 

Bruges, surrender of, 270 

Brunhilde position, 265 

Brunswick, Duke of, 283 

Brussilov, 166 

Bulgaria, possible alliance with, 145; 
collapse of, 249 ff. 

Biilow, von. Prince, pardoned by 
Kaiser, 22; attitude towards Eng- 
land, 83, 84, 86; handicapped by 
Kaiser, 87 ff.; talents of, 87 ff.; 
reappointment as chancellor, 89; 
Wortley conflict of November, 
1908, 96 ff. 

Cadet School at Plon, attended by 
Princes, 31 ff. 



Cannae, Battle of, 195 

Carol, King of Roumania, 116 

Cecilia, Duchess of Mecklenburg, 
Crown Princess of Germany, be- 
trothal in 1904, 61; marriage in 
1905, 61 ; character of, 62; as wife 
and mother, 62 ff., 107 ff., 126 

Censorship, 232 

Ceremonies. See Court, German 

Chamberlain, Joseph, attempts al- 
liance between Germany, Eng- 
land, and the United States, 84 

Champagne, 168, 217, 251, 261 

Charleville, headquarters of Moltke, 
208, 248; Czernin visits Crown 
Prince at, 224 

Charlottenburg, University of Tech- 
nology in, 71 

Chef de Cabinet, power as Kaiser's 
intermediary, 8 ff. 

Chemin des Dames, 220 ff., 251, 261 

Clemen, 46 

Clemenceau, 182 

Conde, front, 264 

Constantinople, visited by Crown 
Prince, 48 

Courcelles-Souilly, 203 

Court, German, ceremonies and 
festivities, 54 ff. 

Czernin, Count Ottokar, 224 ff. 

Daily Telegraph, Wortley incident, 

97.113 
Danzig, life of Crown Prince in, 129, 

134 
Dardanelles question, 85 
David, Majority Socialist, 226 ff. 
Death's Head Hussars, 129 ff. 
Defeat, German, Chapter VI; 

causes of, 237 ff., 241 ff.; not 

caused by force of arms, 345 
Defense Bill of 1913, 96 
Deimling, von. General, 133 
de Jonghe, Count, 276 
Demoralization of Germany. See 

Defeat 
Den Oever, 25, 221 
"Deutschland in Waffen," 131 



INDEX 



369 



Dinant, 276 

Divorce, rumor of Crown Prince's, 

62 
Dohna, Count, 319 
DoHna, Count, adjutant, 129 
Dommes, von, Colonel, 205 
Douaumont, Fort, 212 ff, 

Eberhardt, von. General, 344 

Ebert, Imperial Chancellor, 302, 317 

Education of Crown Prince, in- 
trusted to tutors, 7; intermedi- 
aries, 8, II ff. ; typical training of 
Prussian Princes, 27 ff., 35; 
amended by Crown Prince, 28 ff.; 
military governors, 28 ff., 31 ff. ; 
physical training, 29; scientific 
education, 31; at Plon, 31 ff.; 
military appointments, 35 ff., 129; 
lieutenancy, 37; at Bonn Univer- 
sity, 44 ff.; travel, 47; commands, 
51 ff., 129; moral teachings, 59; 
at University of Technology, 71 ; 
political and economic studies, 
71 ff. See also Military Record 

Edward VII, King of England, in- 
structs Crown Prince in British 
politics, 73 ff. ; opinion on Ger- 
man-English economic rivalry, 
82 ff., 94; falsely accused of hating 
Germany, 89 ff.; character and 
interests of, 90 ff. 

Einem, von, 331 ff., 343 

Eitel Frederick, Prince, as a youth, 
6, 7, 31, 47, 48; visits Crown 
Prince in exile, 184; command in 
war, 207; combat against Ameri- 
cans, 250 

England, politics of, studied by 
Crown Prince, 73 ff. ; von Tirpitz's 
opinion of naval rivalry of, 75 ff.; 
motives in Great War, 77 ff., 117; 
threatened by German merchant 
influence, 81 ff.; blockade against 
Germany, no; administrative 
talent of, 120; army of, 137; at 
war, 165 ff., passim 

Enmity towards Germany, 81 ff. 



Enver Pasha, 223 

Erzberger, 167 

Estrogul Dragoons, 48 

Eulenburg, Prince Philip, 14 ff. 

Exiled life of Crown Prince, 25 ff.; 
peasants' distrust, 25; discom- 
forts, 25, 154 ff., 222 ff.; friendli- 
ness of neighbors, 26, 362; birth- 
day, 41; visit to Kaiserin, 42; as 
a smith, 60; value of secluded 
life, loi ff.; loneliness, 102, 126; 
news of peace treaty, 102; visitors 
in 1919, 107 ff.; news of Kaiserin's 
illness, 107, 127, 184; wife's and 
children's visit, 107 ff., 126; news 
of Kaiser, 127; work and friends, 
149 ff.; Christmas, 151 ff.; extra- 
dition, 153; visits to Doom, 184, 
209, 234, 281; visit to Overveen, 
197; sister visits Crown Prince, 
222; New Year's Eve party, 1920, 
232; visits parents, January, 1921, 
234; April, 280 ff.; death and 
funeral of Kaiserin, 281; arrival 
in exile, 354 ff. ; renunciation, 359 

Falkenhayn, von. General, 28, 187, 

210 ff., 215, 348 
Far East, travels of Crown Prince in, 

119 ff. 
Fashoda affront, 86, 93 
Federal Princes, 223 
Finckenstein, Count, friend of 

Crown Prince, 37 
Fischbeck, 226 
Fisher, Admiral, Lord, quoted, 77, 

Flanders, Planitz dies in, 65 
Foch, war aims and methods, 267 ff. ; 

demands of, 271 ff. 
Foreign policy of Germany, 80 ff., 

172 
Forstner, von. Lieutenant, 133 
France, 37; artillery methods of, 

65; enters entente cordiale, 93; 

army maintained by, 95, 137 ff. 

See also War 
Francis Ferdinand, Archduke, 95; 



370 



INDEX 



opinions of Serbian propaganda, 
123; influence of, 124; assassi- 
nated, 140 
Franco-Russian Alliance, 85 
Frederick Charles, Prince of Prussia, 

135 

Frederick the Great, 108, 174 ff. 

Frederick William I, 51 

Fredericks, Baron, 67 

Friedrichsruh, 29 

Frobenius, D. H., The German Em- 
pire's Hour of Destiny, 141 ff. 

Galicia, 224 

Gallwitz, 265, 267 

Garter, Order of the, given to Crown 
Prince, 91 

Gelbensande, 61 

George V, King of England, corona- 
tion, 122 

Gercourt, 206 

Giesl, Austrian minister, 125 

Givet, 276 

Go-betweens, Kaiser's system of, 
8ff. 

Goethe, 80 

Gontard, von, General, 285, 321 

Gorlice, 162, 251 

Goschen, Sir Edward, 116, 146 

Gothein, 46 

"Government of National De- 
fense," 255 

Grandpr6, 265 

Grenadier Guards (British), 43 

Grey, Sir Edward, 117, 123, 143 

Groner, General, 99, 275, 329; ac- 
tivities during Spa conference and 
abdication plans, 286 ff., passim 

Grote, Baron, 349 

Griinau, von, 286, 294, 306 

Gudrun-Brunhilde position, 266, 
271 

Guendell, von, General, 265 

Guise, 279 

Hagen attack, 237 
Halberstadt Cuirassiers, com- 
manded by Bismarck, 30 



Haldane, Lord, British Minister of 
War, 117, 118 

Hardinge, Lord, 119 

Haumont, Forest of, 265 

Havitt, Sir John, 119 

Hedin, Sven, 224 

Heine, Heinrich, quoted, 102 

Henry, Prince, 143 flf., 209 

Hentsch, Lieutenant-Colonel, 202 
ff., passion 

Hermann position, 271 

Hertling, von. Count, Imperial 
Chancellor, 254, 256 

Heydebrand, von, 226 ff. 

Heye, Colonel, 296, 307, 309 ff. 

Hillenraadt Castle, 352 

Hindenburg, von, Field-Marshal, 
greatness, 185 ff.; character, 187; 
burden of war, 187 ff.; withdraws 
Verdun attack, 215; efforts at 
mediation through neutral pow- 
ers, 253; supreme commander, 
306, 311, 328; at disposal of new 
Government, 330; Crown Prince's 
farewell letter to, 336 ff . 

Hintze, von. His Excellency Mar- 
shal, 259 ff., 286, 293 ff., 298 ff., 
passim, 340 ff. 

Hippolytushoef, 25, 127 

Hirschfeld, von. Major, 294, 321 

Hirson Junction, 247 

Holland, Kaiser plans to retire to, 
318 ff. See also Exiled Life of 
Crown Prince 

Home policy of Germany, narrow- 
ness of, 108 ff. 

Hopfgarten, Major the Count, 
mentor to Crown Prince, 65 

Hubertsburg, Peace of, 175 

Huenefeld, Baron, helps the Crown 
Prince, 26 

Hulsen, von, His Excellency, 64 

Hunding position, 266 

Hiinefeld, von. Baron, 349 

Ilsemann, von, 107, 321 
India, Crown Prince in, 119 
" International," 244 



INDEX 



371 



Italy, arms against Austria, 95; en- 
trance into war, 162; plan to cede 
Trentino to, 224 

Jagow, Secretary of State, 114, 116 
Jellicoe, Admiral, quoted, 79 ff. 
Jena, defeat at, 195 
Jena, Edward von, General, 210, 

333_ 
Joachim, Prince, death of, 184, 209 
Joffre, General, 213 
Jutland, Battle of, 75 

Kampf, 226 

Kan, Secretary-General, 151 

Kapp putsch, 154, 156 fif. 

Karl, Kaiser, 224 

Kiderlen-Wachter, 112, 114; praised 
by Bethmann, 115; character and 
limitations of, 115 fT. 

Kiel, Kaiser arrives at, 143 

Klewitz, von, Lieutenant-Colonel, 
332 

Knobelsdorf, Schmidt von, Lieu- 
tenant-General, 136, 214 

Koenigsmarck, Graf, 14 

KolflF, Burgomaster, 198 

Konig, Captain, 151 

Konigsplatz, military academy at, 
192 

Kretizzeitung, 73 

Kriiger telegram, 85 

Kuhl, von, His Excellency, 262 

Kiihlmann, 259 

Kummer, 60 fif. 

Kurt, Major, 151 

La Capelle, 279 
Langfuhr, 129, 134 
Laroche, 331 
Leo XIII, Pope, 47 fT. 
Lichnowsky, Prince, 118 
Lille, fall of, 267 
Litzmann, 46 

Lloyd George, David, 113, 182 
Lodz, victory at, 190 
London, influence of Kaiser in, 21; 
death of the Queen brings Hohen- 



zollerns to, 43 fif.; coronation in, 
126 

Longwy, Battle of, 201 

Louis of Battenberg, Prince, 44 

Louppy le Petit, 203 

Ludendorfif, General, accused, 158 
ff.; character, 159, 187, 189 ff., 
192 ff. ; complaints in memoirs, 
181; greatness, 185; retirement, 
188; genius of, 189, 193 ff.; suffer- 
ing of, 192; objects to possible 
concession of territories, 225; dis- 
cusses American advance with 
Kaiser, 251 ff.; resignation, 273 

Luijt, 60 

Luxembourg, Headquarters in, 201 

Lyncker, von, General, 31 ff., 128 

Lyncker, Frau von, 32 

Maastricht, 349 

Macedonian front, 249 

Maharajah of Dschaipur, 119 

Majority parties, power of, 255 

Malmoff, Bulgarian Prime Minister, 
249 

Maltzahn, 184 ff. 

Mangin, General, 213 

Maria Feodorovna, Dowager Em- 
press of Russia, character and in- 
fluence of, 66 ff. ; opponent of Ger- 
many, 70 

Marne, Battle of the, 160, 198, 199, 
206; not a German defeat, 207, 
210; false tactics begun at, 231 

Marschall, von, General, 115, 294, 
304 ff., 311 

Mary, Queen of England, corona- 
tion, 122 

Masurian Lakes, victory at, 190 

Max, Prince of Baden, 256, 260; 
274; appointed chancellor, 261; 
rumor of regency of, 271; urges 
Kaiser's abdication, 293; author 
of abdication proclamation, 303 

Mecklenburg. See Cecilie and Ana- 
stasia Michailovna of 

Menzel, Adolf, at court festivities, 
55 ff. 



372 



INDEX 



Metternich, 115, 352 

Meuse, 211, 238, 249, 254, 261, 276, 
279 

Michaelis, Herr Dr., 166 fT. 

Military Record of Crown Prince, 
lieutenancy, 37; First Foot 
Guards, 51 ff.; Gardes du Corps, 
64; artillery, 65; First Body Hus- 
sars, 129; General StaflF, 136 S.; 
leader of Fifth Army, 148, 199 

Military resources of Germany, 
See Armament 

Mitzlaff, von, 37 ff. 

Mobilization for war, 143 

Moltke, von, Lieutenant-General, 
tragic figure, 200 ff., 204 flf., 208 

Mons, 262 

Mont, 115 

Montfaucon, 206 

Montfaucon-Bauthville road, 261 

Morocco affair, 112 

Miildner, Crown Prince's compan- 
ion in exile, 108, 150, 152, 209, 
221, 232, 330, 339 flf., 346 

Miiller, Adjutant, 143, 151, 274, 
330, 339 ff-, 346 

Miiller, von, 78 

Muller, Hermann, 226 

Namur, 344 

Naumann, Dr. Victor, 168 ff. 

Navy, German, 74, 78 fT. See also 
Tirpitz; factor in defeat, 80 

Nicholai Nicholaievitch, Grand 
Duke, 67; opponent of Germany, 
70, 125, 162 

Nicholas, Tsar of Russia, report of 
murder of, 66; Crown Prince's 
visit to, 66 flf.; character of, 66 flf., 
70; bodyguard of, 68 flf.; secret 
sympathy for Germany, 69, 125; 
alienated from Germany by Ed- 
ward vn, 93 

Niemann, Major, 285 flf. 

Nisam of Hyderabad, 119 

Oldenburg, von, defends Kaiser in 
Wortley conflict, 98 



Oldenburg- Januschau, 226 
Oosterland, 25 
Osborne Castle, 91 
Ostend, surrender of, 270 
Overveen, 197 

Pannwitz, von, 359 

Paris press, refusal of peace oflfer, 
265 

Peace Treaty. See Treaty of Ver- 
sailles 

Peereboom, Burgomaster, 26, 127, 

197, 358 

Persia, 93 

"Philosopher of Hohensinow," iii 

Planitz, von der, Captain, personal 
adjutant to Crown Prince, 65 

Plessen, von, 11, 286, 294, 299, 
304 flf., 310 flf. 

Plettenberg, von. Colonel, first 
commander of the Crown Prince, 
36 

Plon, cadet school attended by 
Princes, 31 flF. 

Pliiskow, von, Major, 36 

Pohl, Admiral, 79 

Poland, question of, uncertain Ger- 
man attitude, no; Kingdom of, 
166, 224 

Political and economic interests of 
the Crown Prince, 71 

Potsdam, childhood home, 3; rides 
in, 29; civil appointments of 
Crown Prince in, 71; Kaiser's ill- 
ness at, 98; Crown Prince's 
Cicilienhof in, 126; events in, 
prior to war, 143 flf. 

Prell, editor of the Niederldndische 
Wochenschrift, 150 

Press, Crown Prince's interest in 
the, 72 flF. 

Prittwitz, von, 341 

Programmes of war outlined by 
Crown Prince, 168 flf., 176 flf. 

Rantzau, Count, 36 
Regency of Crown Prince, tempo- 
rary, 100, 103 flf. 



INDEX 



373 



Reichslanden. See Alsace-Lorraine 

Reichstag, stormy sittings of, 22; 
rage over Wortley incident, 97; 
Crown Prince outspoken in 191 1 
in, 112 flf.; for armament, 139; 
Erzberger action in, 167; attack 
upon Hertling in, 254 

Rembercourt, 203 

Reuter, von. General, 133 

Revolution in Germany, 295 flf., 
309. 317. 322, 324 

Revue des Deux Mondes, 213 

Rheims, 36, 38; offensive, 237, 254; 
yields, 249, 264 

Rodern, Count, 256 

Roos-Keppel, Sir, 119 

Rostock, 150 

Roumania, 115 ff.; foreign influ- 
ences in, 1 16 

Rouvier Cabinet, 85 ff. 

Rupprecht, Prince, 237, 267, 270 

Russia, 37; Crown Prince's visits 
to, 66 ff., 125; possible alliance 
with, 77, 85, 86; arms for war, 95; 
army of, 137; movements of 
troops, 139 ff.; at war, 162 ff.; 
German peace with, 175 

Russo-German treaty of commerce, 
67 

St. Andr^, 203 

St. Germainmont, 265 

St. Menehould, 205 

St. Petersburg, influence of Kaiser 
in, 21; visit of Crown Prince to, 
66 ff. 

Salisbury, Lord, British Prime 
Minister, 83 

Sarrail, 206 

Schaefer, dentist, 197 

Scheer, Admiral, 318 

Schenck, General, 265 

Scheuch, Minister General, 335, 341 

Schiller, William Tell, quoted, 134 

Schlieffen, plans checked at the 
Marne, 160; feared by subordi- 
nates, 201 

Schmettow, von, 331 



Schonhausen, von, dyke captain, 

258 

Schroder, 349, 352 

Schulenburg, von der. Count, 237, 
328; activities during Spa con- 
ference and abdication plans, 285 
ff., passim, 339 ff. 

Schulze-Bromberg, 226 

Schumacher, 46 

Sedan, 238 

Seraincourt, 272 ff. 

Serbia, 123 ff., 147 

Sivry, 265 

Socialist Act, 236 

Socialists, 317 

Somme, river, 215, 251 

Somme-Py, 261 

Sonville, 213 

Spa, 99, 113; General Headquarters, 
188; plans at, before defeat, 251 
ff., 258; scenes at, before sur- 
render, 285 ff. 

Spandau, Fortress of, 235 

Spaniards, friendly to Germany, 8 1 

Spender, Harold, English journal- 
ist, 96 ff. 

Stein, von. War Minister, 265 

Stenay, Crown Princess visits at, 

63 
Steuben, 333 
Stuart, Sir Harold, 119 
Stuermer, 163, 166 
Stiilpnagel, adjutant and lord, 54 
Suffrage Act, 254 
Suippes, 264 

Swedes, friendly to Germany, 81 
Switzerland, intermediary to United 

States, 263 

Talleyrand, 19 

Tannenberg, victory at, 190 

Tappen, Lieutenant-Colonel, 201 
ff., 204 

Tarnopol, 166 

Tavannes, 213 

Tirpitz, von, Grand-Admiral, char- 
acter and activities of, 74 ff., 79; 
opinions on struggle with Eng- 



374 



INDEX 



land, 75 ff., 117; denied free naval 
power in Great War, 78; under- 
stands economic difficulty, no 

Tisza, Count, 224 

Tongern, 347 

Tournay, surrender of, 270 

Travels of the Crown Prince, 118 
ff., 121 

Treaty of Versailles, signed, 102; 
humiliation of Germany by, 103, 

364 

Trentino, plan to relinquish, 224 

Trimborn, 226 

Triple Alliance, 94 

Triple Entente, 94; war prepara- 
tions of, 95 

Tripoli, 95 

Turkey, friendly to Germany, 81; 
possible alliance with, 145 

Valentini, von. His Excellency, 
166, 183 

Varennes, 202, 204 

Vavincourt, 203 

Verdun, 203, 206, 238, 240; Crown 
Prince not answerable for losses 
at, 210 ff., 213 ff. 

Versailles Treaty. See Treaty of 
Versailles 

Victoria, Queen, visited by the 
Kaiser and his family at her ju- 
bilee, 34; death and funeral of, 

43 ff. 
Vielsalm, headquarters at, 305, 322, 

329, 333, 339 

Vienna, 123; Near East policy de- 
pendent upon Ballplatz, 123; de- 
mands upon Serbia, 124 ff. 

Villers-Cotterets, Forest of, 191, 237 

Vortrage, 9 

Vorwarts, 73 

Vosges, 238 

Vouziers, 265, 270 

Vroenhoven, 347 ff. 

Wagenheim, 115 

Wahnschaffe, von, His Excellency, 
300 



War, Great, England's motives in, 

77 ff . ; a German naval blunder in, 

78 ff.; gathering storm of, 120 ff.; 
mobilization, 143; events prior to, 
144 ff.; details of, 156 ff., to end; 
Crown Prince's programmes of, 
168 ff., 176 ff. 

Wartenburg, York von. Count, 
Weltgeschichte in Umrissen, 195 

Waulsort, headquarters shifted to, 
276 

Wedel, von, 37, 56 ff. 

Wergin, Sergeant-Major, 52 

Widemann, Oberstabsarzt, 51 

Wieringen, Isle of, appointed place 
of Crown Prince's exile, 354 ff. 

Wight, Isle of, Victoria dies in, 43; 
Wortley in, 96 

Wilhelm II, Kaiser, relations with 
children, 5 ff., 16; restraints im- 
posed on children, 6, 11; go- 
betweens, 8 ff., 14, 105 ff.; private 
interviews with Crown Prince, 
12 ff., 113; compared with son, 
16 ff. ; respected by Crown Prince, 
18; nobility of character, 19; 
characteristics, 19 ff . ; weakness of, 
20 ff., 104 ff.; conception of loy- 
alty, 22 ff.; relaxing hold on af- 
fairs, 23; desire for peace, 24, 125; 
birthday visit to Bismarck, 29 ff . ; 
ceremonies at court of, 55 ff., 
104 ff.; press cuttings and reports 
presented to, 73 ff., 106; attitude 
towards England, 87 ff., 97; re- 
appoints Biilow, 89; prejudice 
against Edward VII, 89 ff.; 
Wortley conflict of November, 
1908, 96 ff.; breakdown, 100; 
grants cessation of Verdun at- 
tack, 214; early service to the 
empire, 235 ff . ; agrees to majority- 
party proposals, 255 ff.; urging 
and rumors of abdication, 270, 
291, 295; at Spa conference, be- 
fore surrender, 286 ff.; agrees to 
abdicate, 298 ff., 359; unjustly 
blamed, 325 ff. 



^ 



JfD- 89. 



INDEX 



375 



Wilson, Woodrow, Berlin despatch 
to, 263, 265; conditions of, ac- 
cepted by Germany, 266, 271; 
fourteen points, 267 ff.; notes, 
268 flf. 
Witte, Sergei Julivitch, 67 
Wittlesbach, House of, 271 
Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils, 

295 
Wortley, General Stuart, 96 flf. 
Wrangel, Baron, 42 

X, Captain, 308, 310 R., 315 



Y, Lieutenant, 308, 311, 315 
Ypres, 250 

Zabern incident, 132 

Zarskoe Selo, 68 

Zitelmann, 46 

Zobeltitz, friend of Crown Prince, 

232, 276 flf., 330, 346, 350 ff. 
Zoppot, Crown Prince at, 140 
Zorn, lecturer on constitutional law, 

46 
Zorndorf, 64 



C'' 




















o V 















.<i> 



o V 






\ 




v/*^"^ • AVAg^wA ^ «^'^ Deacidified using the Bookkeeper pre 

,V«^ ". ^^L.,J^i? n. CtP, Neutralizino aaent: Maanesium Oxide 



°^^W--r!^^' v/* ^ * Sj^^S^Ji^Z « '^'^ Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 

o^^nS^N^^ * »\^"^ ^^^ffllia^^® c^^r> Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 

o V-SlLxF ♦ Ay "r^ • ^^111^2 ♦ <^ sp" Treatment Date: Sfp _ „^ 

% '° " '.'^'^ <• - /<s^ ' • * * ' o^^ . - • . ^-^ PreservationTechnologies 

r \^ j'W •Vt;5v^A* ^ Cj **/*>V??!?!?, * A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATIOt 

* ^>» "» o* "^^aD^'w ''^ « *jQili^^^ "* 111 Thomson Par1<Dfive 

ft* ^^ *- ° fl^^ J^JsSk!^ ^ <** • J^^S^^^?'^ * Cranberry Township, PA 16066 

3 • 4.0 • ^SS^^^ * '''^** 779-2111 







v-;^ 




'^^' 



vv 








e ■ o - .0 '^ •" . I -I • -^ 




►...•' ^^ 



^^ 



































